The sun shine filters through the trees warming the second story porch as Gale sits on a chair listening to the beautiful sound of the brightest red birds she had ever seen, as they scurry around for food, while sipping on a cup of Vanilla Coffee her ex-boyfriend left behind and she brought with her to her children’s apartment, over a thousand miles from the home she had known for nearly twenty one years.

The fresh air coupled with the lush green grass was a stark difference from the desert sands of her home in the California Desert’s she was accustomed to. Instead of  red breasted birds, big black birds, all kinds of gray birds, and owls she now saw red birds, blue birds as well as finches during the day and instead of owls the sounds of crickets chirping in the night. The sounds were as different as the smells and the sights.  

Gale sat wondering how her life had changed so quickly and so drastically within the last five years and especially the past three years.  Neglected by the man she loved, then pushed a side for another woman, trying with all her heart to give herself to another who proclaimed his love, only to have him abuse her by constant silence, neglect of her and himself and to look upon her as though she were horrifying to him every time she wanted so much as a hug from him for the past year in a half..

The only ones that seemed to care were her oldest children and her children that adopted her because of her caring ways. It seemed no one, not even her children fully understood her though and when Gale was honest with herself she didn’t understand her own self at times. Gale knew she was fickle at times but then most women were; it wasn’t as though she didn’t know what she wanted, Gale knew exactly what she was looking for.

Gale took another sip of her coffee, took a deep breath and settled back a little more in her chair. Her Auburn hair gleamed deep red where the sun kissed it, long enough to nearly touch her waist, had gotten thicker in the two weeks she’d been in Oklahoma with her children. Gale’s soft brown eyes lit up as she smiled at the birds antics below.