Every Tuesday and Thrursday I will be posting new sections of "The Saint of Liberty". Here is part two. Please go read Part one first if you have not.
Enjoy!
The Saint of Liberty - Part 2
It was Lilly taking her generous nature to other towns that really galvanized her divine image with the good people of Liberty. See Lilly truly was an ambassador of sorts. All month long Lilly would collect any and everything that the town of Liberty could spare. She would then, every second Wednesday, take the forty five minute bus ride into Jefferson City and give these softly worn items to the less fortunate. Lilly was everything good about the town of Liberty. She showed it in the way she talked, dressed and most importantly the way she acted. Many felt that she was living proof that a town could fight against the moral decay and selfish non-caring mindset that was prevalent today. Many of Liberty would swear that she emulated a feeling of good. Lilly was not only the prefect citizen but a living angel.
In early October, Liberty was enjoying the wonderful weather that the old folks often called an Indian summer. Mr. Sugars was washing the front windows of his Candy store that had been dirtied up by little Steven Spazcosi earlier that day. Mr. Sugars loved kids, yet he knew that they all weren't perfect. Some had yet to learn to listen to that little voice inside that warned them what they shouldn't do. Little Steven was a wonderful example of such a kid. Steven was a good kid but his love for Mr. Sugars ‘Drippity Droppity Double Dense Dutch Chocolate Bars’ had forced Steven to not listen to that little voice. This was the reason why Mr. Sugars had to ban Steven from his store. It broke both of their hearts but Mr. Sugars had to help Steven stop stealing for his own good. The month ban was that second such ban that Mr. Sugars had to impose on Steven. What hurt Mr. Sugars the most was he thought of Steven as his own Grandchild. No one in town loved candy like him and Steven. They were kindred spirits in this.
Now Mr. Sugars never had seen Steven steal form his store, but Steven was the only one it could be. See, every time candy was missing from his store, Steven had been there. The only candies that went "missing" were the "Drippity Droppity Double Dense Dutch Chocolate Bars", Steven's favorite. Mr. Sugars was positive that it couldn't have been anyone else. This is why Mr. Sugars banned his best customer. What had made it even harder on Mr. Sugars was that Steven refused to stay away from the store. Even though he had been banned from the store, he spent hours just staring in though the window. Steven had spent almost an hour earlier in the day looking though this window. He just stood there and watched as Mr. Sugars made lemon gumdrops. It was then that Steven had left the sticky finger prints that Mr. Sugars was now cleaning up.
Mr. Sugars knew that Steven was a good kid that just needed some tough love to find the straight and narrow. "Not every kid could be Lilly Watson!" Mr. Sugars said to himself as he finished the window and started to clean the door handle that Steven had grabbed right before he left. The sun reflected off something down the street and shined into Mr. Sugar's eyes forcing him to look up at the slowly approaching bus. He chuckled as he saw Sweet Lilly Watson not a block away walking towards his store with her arms full of boxes. Boxes of needed things that he knew were in route to Jefferson City. "Speak of the devil." Fell out of his mouth as he saw Lilly trying to transverse the Main St. sidewalk with it's, sandwich board signs, poorly parked kids bikes in front of Ms. Pearl's Toy store and noon crowd rushing to stand in line at Anna's Cafe. With each step Lilly took extra care to keep the precariously stacked boxes from falling. A happily shocked Mr. Sugars grabbed Mr. Jenson who was walking back to the bank with his egg salad sandwich that he ordered every Wednesday said while pointing down the sidewalk at Lilly, "That stack of boxes gets bigger each month. They are taller than she is." Mr. Jenson turning to see Lilly approaching said "How can she even see where she is going?" Mr. Sugars opening the door to his shop replied to Mr. Jenson, "She is an amazing child. I am going to get ice cream ready. I just saw the bus, she best hurry up or she'll miss it." Mr. Jenson just got off "Hank will wait for her!" as the door shut. Mr. Jenson checked his prized possession the gold pocket watch his grandfather had given him the day he went off to college. Eight minutes after twelve. The bus must have been a little early.
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