"Marla Townsend, well how long has it been?" Mrs. Ellis cheerily greeted as she rolled her wheelchair back into the main house followed by Marla. She almost sounded happy to see Marla. Marla shook off those strange welcoming feelings.
"It's been a while… How have you been?" She asked looking at the familiar 2-story Victorian style house that she once frequent almost every day for over two and a half years while she and Jacob had courted. Once they had entered the main house, there was just a tad more lighting than on the enclosed porch. Marla could see slightly better now. Aside from some new contemporary furniture, a couple coats of lime-green paint on the walls and the 46-in wide screen TV, the home hadn't changed much.
"I'm fairing okay for an old lady. My diabetes and high blood pressure giving me trouble but I'm still kicking." The older woman joked. Mrs. Ellis wasn't quite as old as Marla's mother of 60 years; however she certainly looked much older than her Marla thought. Time had not been good to Mrs. Ellis since Marla had last seen her some six years she further observed. Mrs. Ellis used to have a deep dark rich full head of luxurious long silken hair; that was now completely gray, kinky and thinning. She had always been a full-figured woman but looking at her today, Marla could tell that the woman had gained at least another sixty if not a hundred pounds more and she wheezed when she talked. Marla surmised that was from the heavy smoking that she was known to do. Abruptly she began an uncontrollable coughing spell and Marla heard the congestion in her lungs. Marla went to assist the lady by patting her on her back, but Mrs. Ellis shook her head while waving her off. As Marla waited for the coughing spell to cease; she thought that despite Mrs. Ellis heaviness she seemed weak and fragile. Looking down as Mrs. Ellis still struggled to catch her breath; that was when Marla noticed that Mrs. Ellis's left leg was missing. Marla surmised that the amputation was due to complication of the Diabetes that Mrs. Ellis had mentioned earlier.
"Ahem… Ahem… Ahem-Ahem…" Mrs. Ellis went attempting to remove the phlegm from her throat in order to speak. "Ooh… child I tell you- nothing worse than getting old. C'mon in child… Have a seat." She waved her hand outward indicating that Marla should take a seat across from her. Marla politely smiled as she sat down. She tucked her legs neatly to the side while crossing them at the ankle. She allowed her hands to rest comfortably in her lap with her purse strap still over her shoulder.