earliest glimpse of my elusive mistress

My earliest glimpse of my elusive mistress was when I was a small child. The gate leading to my grandparents’ backyard was made of red and white corrugated metal and would swing in the wind, slamming closed with a hollow clang. I was too small to open the gate at the time, so I decided to race the wind to get out of the yard as it closed. The wind won, and in the process, the gate sliced open my right heel. The incident very nearly incapacitated my Achilles tendon and caused profuse bleeding, a sight that was doubly traumatizing because of the plastic milk bag that my grandparents used to collect the blood. The vision of this makes me feel ill to this day, a trauma that could have been lessened by the “common” sense first aid practice of wrapping a wound with a dark towel. Unbeknownst to me, this angel was assigned to me for reasons unclear, but her presence would forever be a catalyst for my destiny unfolding.

FATHER FIGURE