Beginning ~ at the cemetery

In the six months since the November day that his wife, Nola, was buried, Arthur Moses has been having lunch with her every day.  He rides the bus to the cemetery and when he gets there, he takes his sweet time walking over to her plot:  she will be there no matter when he arrives.  She will be there and be there and be there.

The Story of Arthur Truluv ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2017, fiction (Missouri), 9/10

For the past six months, Arthur Moses’s days have looked the same:  He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch.  The last thing Arthur would imagine is for one unlikely encounter to utterly transform his life.  Eighteen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who visits the cemetery to escape the other kids at school.  One afternoon she joins Arthur — a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls.  Moved by Arthur’s kindness and devotion, Maddy gives him the nickname “Truluv.”  As Arthur’s neighbor Lucille moves into their orbit, the unlikely trio band together and, through heartache and hardships, help one another rediscover their own potential to start anew.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Mister Linky.