Mark I:

David Roth of Midville had come age seventy-three. When a man is young, he may think that he may never grow old. Youth will continue into a forever lasting just fifty years past twenty-three. He learns that his youth and vitality may end, either prematurely through some misfortune or a crippling medical condition. He may awaken and see himself in a mirror- old, wrinkled, and somewhat grotesque. That's exactly what happened to David.

During a winter day of year 2013, David drove his automobile to downtown Midville and picked-up a medical prescription. Veronica Brown of Alaska, a northwest wind, blew her frigid breath in David's face, whisked his baseball cap off his head, and whispered in his right ear. She even closed the passenger side door on his left leg.

Veronica Brown would never let David alone. She had haunted him in every way she could since 1964.

As the car door closed on David Roth's leg, he angrily proclaimed: "You get out of here Veronica! It's cold out here. I want to get back home before the snow, ice, and sleet begin. We're supposed to have a blizzard here!"

One thing wrong with David was that he blamed any trouble he had on Veronica. Even if it was summer and he had a flat tire, he'd blame Veronica. "That's going to cost me money that I don't have," he'd tell her.

Fifteen laps around the walking track at Midville Fitness Center equals one mile. On the day that Veronica Brown came back, David stumbled through two miles. Then he entered the gymn, spending short intervals on the exercises and some he didn't need. Pulling something in his right shoulder, that part of physical fitness ended abruptly. Dave then trod another mile on that track and stumbled clumsily back to his automobie.

Not a terrible winter day. Cloudy and temperature in the upper thrities. Home was just a mile away, but a stop at Dollar General and another grocery was necessary. As one knows, a man must have food and drink.

Veronica again made her presence known. Patches of ice were scattered among the parking lot. Dave placed his steps on just the right place; sliding and falling on his right hand. That hand was already damaged by a his work at the gymn.

"Veronica," Dave said as he pulled himself up from that fall. "I'm already injured. Will you go away, let me alone and let me get back home?"

David Roth made it back safely and whole to his home two blocks away from Dollar General and the grocery. He sat and listened to radio news from St. Louis and the local station news.

It was the night that Veronica came back for real. At least the old man felt that she had come. What a strange occurence it was!

A wind from the direction of Alaska commenced; gusting to forty-five miles an hour. And the temperature quickly dropped from the mid-thirties into the low teens. It didn't take long.

Outside Dave's house, he could hear things. Limbs fell, the cats fought and something caught one. The winds howled, a fire alert sounded, and traffic along a nearby highway echoed with traffic. Dave shut his eyes and listened. He thought of Veronica Brown, a girl he had loved back in 1964.

And along with that gale and cold and ice and snow, Veronica entered Dave's house and possessed him. He became submerged in love- a warm blanket over a tired spirit. She entered and sat down beside Dave on his couch. It seemed so very real to him.

Dave began to hold and cuddle Veronica in his mind for reason that he felt so much love. He had long carried Veronica in his memory, and he felt so close to her there while resting there on the couch. She was indeed there for Dave had brought her there himself.

Knowing that Veronica Brown was there within the room and on that couch, Dave held her, cuddled her, and talked with her; not aloud but in his mind.

Dave asked Veronica: "Veronica, how did the move to Alaska turn out? I've always been curious to learn what happened tho you and your family there in the cold north."

And another thing, Veronica: "I believe that when we die, we enter into parallel worlds. That we will be set down somewhere else and that we never die. Would you be my friend when I enter into the parallel world? I loved you so much. I'd be so happy if you could be there to meet me."

(As strange as it may seem, Veronica Brown has assumed the form of a northwest wind- one coming from out of Alaska.)