FLORIDA GOLD

Florida, go to Florida. If you’re not going to die, why not go there, it’s warm. She laughed when she thought of being packed off to the land of eternal sunshine, no snow, plenty of that in Rhode Island. She could play cards, knew how to swim, and liked people, she might try Florida. She would make the kids happy, Michael who was sixty, Gina, fifty five, and Frankie, fifty three. Couldn’t they wait a little longer, she wasn’t that rich. She kissed Marco, her dead husband goodbye at the cemetery, and got ready for Florida. When I find the gold, I’ll share it with you, she said to the man who had left her five years ago, on that snowy night in December. Don’t look for gold, that’s when you’ll find it. The plane landed in Florida, Doris Altomare touched the medal around her neck, thanking God that she had arrived. The warm rays of the sun kissed her, she smiled, she was ready to begin her search for Florida gold.