Dear Maria, Count Me In

Everyone's searching for the answer to the big question. What is the meaning of my life?

I was tired of the dribble I'd been writing since they hired me at Rockwater Magazine. Job of my dreams but I wasn't satisfied. Not until I discovered the next musical gift to the world.

Then I found her. Her music. Her smile. Her style. Her aura. It was the perfect mixture of heaven and hell that music needed. The voice of an angel dressed in deep red. The chords of clouds on fire.

Addianna Ambrose. My eyes could picture it on the bright marquee.

Two years later and I’m standing here on the floor of this antiqued venue. I see the stage lights saturate her glowing skin. I see the eyes around me glisten, frozen by everything that was her. And I’m jealous. This is my gift to the world.

Listen but don’t touch.

Then her eyes found mine. My muscles relaxed.

My article put that timid seraphim on stage.

Then I quit.

Because I’d found the answer to the big question. My meaning in life. It wasn‘t my name on some desk at a big magazine. She was it. The answer to everything.