Strange Solace

There is an archway made of stone standing on the English coast. The archway itself is made of rust red bricks, framing a tall arch at least twice the size of a person. 

The archway sits within the remains of a stone wall, carefully constructed from flat stones of different colours and sizes meticulously stacked on top of one another. The stones range from the white grey of ash to the deep grey of an angry sky.

The wall used to be part of a building, but no one remembers what.

The walls are mostly covered by layers upon layers of green ivy. On top of the wall sit cheery pink geraniums. You wonder how the seeds got up there and how flowers can grow out of the top of a stone wall.

Today is a crisp late spring day, the sky is blue and bright with s single wisp of cloud. A young couple in summer dresses and purple and red hand knitted cardigans relax a few feet from the archway. The air is crisp and full of possibility. 

This is strange, you think. You expected queues of people waiting to go through the arch. Or more correctly, to stand beneath it. Maybe they are content not to know. 

It has been said that there is an archway on the English coast, made of red brick and grey stone and covered in ivy, and that if you stand beneath it on the right day, at the right time, you will get a glimpse of your death. 

A woman stands beneath the archway, the sea breeze ruffling her hair. You catch her eye as you approach. She smiles at you, her soft eyes glistening, and the corner of her mouth pulled upwards in a knowing smile. 

You imagine that she has seen the death she desires. Perhaps at home, with family and friends at her bedside. Peacefully drifting into the afterlife surrounded by love.

You only hope that you will be so lucky as you wait to take her place.

Copyright: image believed to be in the public domain and used for creative, non-commercial purposes. Garden of Rest & Old Lighthouse, Hunstanton. Post Office Preferred Postcard, printed in Great Britain.