Your Blues Aint Like Mine

“You look lonely.” A beautiful voice broke behind him.

Tbone’s head snapped around. A brown-skinned woman stepped out of the forest. He shot to his feat. She held to the sides of her long blue dress to step through the tall grass in bare feet. The top of her hair was covered under a blue patterned scarf. Thick dark ringlets for curls hung past her shoulders. And most striking were her eyes. Blue, dreamy, clear as moonlight they were lovely. Who was she?

“They call me Blue,” she chuckled as if she read his mind.

He swallowed.

Blue clasped her hands behind her back and cocked her head to the side. “A black woman with blue eyes is quite strange in these parts. I got my name honestly don't you think?”

“I’ve seen you before,” he stammered.

“Have you? You from around here?”

“Mud Lake,” he took a step back. Beautiful or not, her emergence from the forest with the storm clouds hovering sent the hairs on his nape one end.

“Oh… I’m from Jackson actually. Just built a house not too far back.”

“I know you. I've seen you before.” Tbone dug deep for the answer. “The funeral! You were at my brother’s funeral... and the Pink Lady,” he gave an awestruck look, taking another step back. "It was you, at the Pink Lady, wasn't it."

Blue stared at him for a moment then rewarded him with a sweet smile. “You sure about that? Not partial to funerals.”

“Not the funeral but the graveyard, it was... I think it was you,” he stammered.

There was a grumble of thunder in the distance. Tbone eyes shot upward to the smoky grey sky. There was no sign of the stars, just the pulsating dark clouds loomed. As if the hushed whispers of the swaying branches and quivering leaves could be heard, but no other night sounds from crickets and wood insects. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his nape stood on end. He looked to her curiously. She was close. He hadn’t seen her move yet she was standing right before him. And her blue irises had dissolved into a smoky grey cast. She blinked again, with a false innocence that nearly fooled him.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Tee... Tommy.” He said, not sure why. He never gave his Christian name. With her he needed to share more. “Why are you in the forest? With no shoes?” he broke their connection to study her muddy toes.

“Walking. I always do, looks like you do too. Looks to me you’ve been walking for quite some time.”

Tbone's guitar dropped from the lean on the tree stump. It fell face-up between them. She gave a sexy smirk. "You a blues man?"

He picked up Ilene and his satchel. “I um… well I think I’ll be going, smells like rain.”
When he turned, she appeared before him. He nearly jumped from his skin. She smiled and he released a nervous chuckle. "You sure do move fast."

Blue touched his arm. He expected it to be a strike. She unnerved him so. He was certain of it. But her touch was so calming. Even the burn of grief he carried in his chest over Davis’ death lessened.

“Why don’t you come my way? To wait out the storm. It’s just through those trees. I can fry you up some catfish I caught earlier.”

“I don’t think…”

“Didn’t ask you to think, Tommy.” Her laugh was light and airy, a scary contrast against the distant rumble of thunder.

“Come with me.” She took his hand.