The Heavy Wool Coat

The park was under total darkness of night, and it had begun to lightly rain, but Sofia didn’t care about that right now. She didn’t want to go home, not to stare at an empty apartment and think about Ryan’s affairs. Her mind was swirling with wondering thoughts... what had she done to deserve such betrayal? Could she afford to renew the lease without him? Would she even want to?... The cool rain felt cleansing, hiding the tracks her tears made from the corner of her eyes down her chin and onto her chest. Sofia didn’t know how many hours she had been sitting on that park bench, or what time it was when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Honey, are you alright?” Sofia looked over to see a kind looking old woman, with caramel wrinkled skin and big, golden brown eyes beside her. Her long, gray hair was braided to one side, and she was wrapped in a thick wool coat with patterns in different shades of green and orange. When she sat, the coat went past her knees, but still seemed to fit her delicate frame. “I hate to see such a beautiful young lady so heartbroken, … and you’re all wet, poor dear... Here, take this” and she took off the wool coat, draping it carefully over Sofia’s shoulders. Then the old woman grabbed Sofia’s hands and cradled them in her own. “This coat is special, and I want you to have it! Stay here as long as you need, but when you are ready to get up (and you will be), do so with your head high. You still have many adventures ahead of you.” She briefly squeezed Sofia’s hands a little harder, and then let them go. When Sofia lifted her head again to thank her, the old woman was gone. She stood up and put her arms through the coat sleeves, and began walking in no particular direction.

“I still don’t want to go home,” she thought to herself as she kept walking under the moonlight. A gust of wind chilled her fingertips, so she tucked them into the large pockets... and realized that one side of the coat felt a little heavier. Upon closer inspection, she noticed a pocket hidden in the inner lining, just large enough for a small key attached to a tag. On the back of the tag was an address just a few towns away. The traffic wouldn’t be terrible this late, or early, depending on how you look at it, only a few hours in her old truck. She decided she would drive to the old woman’s house and return her mailbox key, and thank her for the coat. With music on, dawn approaching, and soft sunlight peeking over the hills, the hours went by easily. When she pulled up to the address, she was surprised to see that it was not a house or even apartment, but a box number at a small storage facility.

“Well, I’m already here, I have the key, and they open in an hour... I might as well check it out. Maybe I can find out more information and find her from there!” She drove back to the cheap, 24 hour diner she passed 2 miles back, and got a small stack of blueberry and banana pancakes with a side of hash browns for breakfast. She was so upset last night by Ryan that she forgot to eat dinner, but now it seemed her appetite had completely returned, because not a bite was left untouched. With a full belly, she returned to the storage facility to find what went with this key. There was a quiet, old man at the counter, who directed her to the wall with the small storage boxes. It only took a minute or two to find the right box, and the key went in smoothly. She opened the door and inside was an oval silver locket. The locket was cool in her hands, and easily opened revealing a black and white photo of a young woman with jet black hair in double braids. The opposite side had a note in tiny handwriting that said “my heart belongs to you – it shines brighter than the moon – Cheyenne Wolfe”

Maybe that was the old woman’s name, the lady in the locket picture definitely looks like a young version of her. Sofia looked into the box once more to see if there was anything else, anything that might have more information. But it was empty. She turned around and was suddenly shocked to see that the old man was no longer behind the counter, but standing just beside her! He noticed her jump and chuckled, “I’m sorry miss, didn’t mean to startle you there!” he was holding a clipboard with some papers in it. “It’s just that nobody has checked that box in over 10 years, which means you’re due for renewing your contract. Can you confirm your name?”

“uhhhm... Cheyenne … Wolfe?”

“thank you, miss Wolfe. Can you go ahead and double check your information?”

The man handed her the clipboard. She started looking for an address or a phone number, anything that could help her find the old woman. Many of the sections had faded so much they were illegible, but she could make out a place of employment. That gave her a town and a name, enough to look up online. She handed the old man the clipboard and thanked him for his help (then managed to slip out before saying anything about renewing). She went to a local coffee shop to use their internet while she searched for any clues. After a few hours, 2 coffees, and a delicious cinnamon apple scone, she was able to find a house that had been owned by a Cheyenne Wolfe within 10 miles of that work address. The house was about an hour over the state border... with good traffic she could be there by lunch time and stop somewhere to eat before checking out the house.

The first 2 hours of driving were quite productive, but closer to noon the roads got busy and Sofia didn’t cross the state border until well after lunch time. She was feeling more excited than hungry though and decided to drive straight through to the house. It was a cute, quiet little neighborhood with a natural backdrop of tall, beautiful pine trees. The sun was warm and bright, but the air was cold and crisp, and smelled subtly of fresh pine leaves. Bursts of cooler wind pulled lightly at the ends of the heavy wool coat as Sofia walked up the driveway to the house listed under Cheyenne Wolfe’s name. She was nervous to knock on the door, but excitement and curiosity made her unable to wait any longer.

*knock knock knock*

A tall man (probably in his 30s) with golden brown eyes opened the door and greeted her, followed by the wonderful smell of fresh berries. He was wearing a straw colored woven tunic with denim jeans, and his dark hair was loosely pulled into a bun. “How can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m looking for a woman named Cheyenne Wolfe who used to live here? I have something of hers that I’d like to return.”

He stepped out of the doorway to invite her in. “That would be my mother. But she passed away 2 years ago. Maybe I could help? My name is Jacy Wolfe, I’ve got blueberry bannock fresh off the stove and I'll throw on some tea, make yourself comfortable.”

They spoke for nearly 4 hours. He listened about the old woman with the wool coat, the storage box with the locket and the old man, the research (and the apple scone, which honestly was having a hard time competing with his homemade blueberry bannock). When she gave him the key and the locket, he confirmed it was definitely an old photo of his mother. Then they looked through old photo albums of Cheyenne Wolfe. Sofia was still trying to piece together the information when they found a picture of the heavy wool coat! Jacy was pointing at a young girl, maybe 7 or 8, and said “that’s my mother there.” Only, it was an older, adult woman standing beside the girl, who was wearing the coat... with her black hair braided to one side.

“Who is that woman standing next to her in the coat?!”

He hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that he was looking, he realized it was the same coat Sofia was wearing right next to him. Seeing it gave him a sudden rush of chills. “That’s my grandmother, she died when I was just a baby.” He picked up the locket from the coffee table and turned it around a few times in his hands. “This must have been her locket, with the photo of my mother in it. I don’t remember her aside from stories... she was buried in a small private plot next to a park she used to take my mother to as a child. They moved a lot, before settling down here, just the two of them. I think I have more photos of her somewhere, give me a minute.”

He returned with a few old photographs and told her that his grandmother’s name was Nokomis, which means “daughter of the moon.” Sofia picked up the photos to get a closer look... She had never put much thought into the supernatural, but she could not deny that this was the old woman from the park yesterday, who died decades ago! Sofia had many questions still, but it was getting late and she felt it was time to go. She thanked Jacy for everything, and began to take off the coat to return to him... but he stopped her and said “I think my grandmother would want you to keep that. Thank you for the locket, perhaps she guided you here to return it to me.” After a few final hugs and thanks, she was in her truck on her way back to the empty apartment and made a quick stop in a local plaza to refuel for the long drive.

It was beautiful out, chilly - but pleasant in Nokomis’ wool coat. Sofia's nose brought her attention to a food truck with a grill next to a cute little picnic table illuminated by the moonlight. The special of the day was buffalo burgers (and they looked incredible). Sofia was sitting down with her burger and a bottle of ginger ale when she felt something buzzing in the coat pocket. She reached inside... huh? she’d been so pre-occupied that she hadn’t even checked her phone. She took it out and a mysterious little black notebook fell out onto the seat. There were 11 missed calls and 3 texts from Ryan, apologizing and begging for forgiveness. Suddenly, she felt free, and not obligated to give him any more of her time. She deleted the texts and blocked his number, then picked up the small book. It had a soft, leather-like feel to it. She opened the notebook and saw a folded piece of paper and a small bit of writing on the first page. It read “you are ready to go -- with your head held high – many adventures await you” ... Sofia unfolded the paper, and it was a $20,000 cashier’s check addressed to her, signed “Nokomis.” She closed the little black notebook, and watched as silver ink appeared on the cover (as if by magic) with the words “Sofia’s Adventure” and a little silver moon. She placed the notebook back safely in her coat pocket and looked up at the night sky...

“You know, I’ve always wanted to see the Redwood Forests in California...” She returned to her truck with the rest of her ginger ale and drove off, towards the west coast.