“Look, how sweet is that?” Felicia said.
“Careful, young man, there must be three hundred old women here who will fight me for you. I may have to beat them off of you!” Lolita laughed with a roar. “Did you go out of your way to that farm and get fresh-made ice cream for little old me?”
“Oh, no!” I bluffed. “You wanted pistachio, too? Some woman who’s only ninety-nine took it from me . . . .”
“Listen, Sonny, I still can put you over my knee for a spanking! Don’t let the white hair and lack of some fool you!” She laughed.
We all laughed with her, including some other residents in the lounge area who were enjoying our banter.
I pulled up a chair and sat almost up to her face. With my notepad at the ready, we talked more seriously to each other.
“Miss Lolita, I read the many great quotes in your wonderfully insightful diary. I was amazed at a woman so young, in her early twenties, being so philosophical.”
She smiled at me and said, “Come a little closer. I want to see your eyes better. You’re a handsome lad!”
I felt a little self-conscious about having Lolita study my eyes, but I moved my chair close enough that I could have kissed her. Felicia smiled a loving smile. I could tell that Felicia was a sensitive and loving person as soon as I met her. People can fake that sensitive caring stuff only so long. A person can see through you and find the real person rather quickly. Body language and a person’s eyes can give away a person’s attitude quickly. Perhaps that was why Lolita wanted to see my eyes up close.
“You know, Louis,” Miss Lolita began, “my Uncle Walter was a doctor, and he was also a very positive, philosophical man who influenced my early days a great deal.”
“Yes, I gathered that from your journal entries,” I said.
“We used to read the Bible together, and then he, along with Minister Trylan of our church, along with the minister’s son, Seymour, would discuss the meaning of the words and the real messages behind the verses of the Bible. It was like the minister wanted his son to learn while we were learning. The minister’s son was a bookworm, and he could recite large sections of the Bible from memory. We learned so much with Minister Trylan. So, I had great influences early on and kept it going for life.”
“Amazing. There were so many motivating sections in your diary. What really caught my eye, Miss Lolita, was the part about being the greatest living miracle. Can you elaborate on that for me?”
“Oh, yes. You see, we are each born as the greatest living miracle in the world. Most of us don’t realize this or appreciate how much of a miracle we really are. I have been explaining this to everyone for my entire adult life. The odds of your being born with your exact personality are millions to one. And if you analyze the human heart, lungs, and brain, they contain over sixty thousand miles of blood vessels. The greatest living miracle in the world? Yes. You see, whether you are a millionaire or a homeless, penniless person, you are equally the greatest living miracle in the world. And you should never forget that!” She smiled lovingly.
“Miss Lolita, I have taken that for granted my entire life. I’ve been down and out, and sometimes at the top of my game, but I’ve never realized that we are each the greatest living miracle in the world. We are each as amazing, in reality, as each of the Seven Wonders of the World. In fact, the headline for my story about you will be ‘The Greatest Living Miracle in the World.’ And, Miss Lolita, can you touch on your self-suggestion statements?”
“I’d love to share an affirmation, or self-suggestion statement, with you. You must keep in mind that I have been saying the same statements for most of my life.”
She began, “Thank you, Lord, for this new and glorious day. As I look out my window, I see a beautiful blue sky with gorgeous white clouds slowly passing by. I thank you for this new and glorious gift of a new day of life. But I don’t realize why I have been chosen to receive this gift of life while so many others have been taken away. I will not waste this day. I will squeeze from the grapes you have given me, Lord, every drop of juice, not wasting one drop, as this could very possibly be my last day on earth. And if it is my last day on earth, it will be my finest day. I thank you, Lord, for all of the precious gifts you have given me throughout my life, but most of all I thank you for this extra precious gift of a new day of life.” She smiled at me and said, “There is more, but I gave you the meat of it.”
“You call them self-suggestion statements. You really are the Wise One, as people call you!”
“I am as equal in value as anyone else is,” she said lovingly. “The reason they are self-suggestions is because as you repeat the statements to yourself, your inner mind accepts them and retains them in your brain for later retrieval. You see, it’s easy for us to dwell on negative thoughts, as eighty percent of all things around us daily are negative in nature. So, to combat the negativity, I call it adding mental blinders to protect my mind from negativity. The positive statements create the mental blinders, and the negativity bounces off.”
“You know, Miss Lolita, what you say makes perfect sense. But you have a special way of explaining things in easy-to-understand language.”
“Miss Lolita, tell him the other morning statement you taught everyone,” Felicia chimed in.
“Okay, sweetheart. Here is another positive statement I repeat a couple of times per day: ‘I feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific. I like myself. I like myself, I like myself. I will be successful; it’s inevitable, because my aggressiveness will lead to opportunities for my success. I can, I will, I want to. All things are possible through belief in myself and the Lord, and with His help, I can accomplish anything.
‘I feel great, I feel wonderful, I’ve got the world by the tail. If I start acting enthusiastic, I’ll become enthusiastic; if I start acting positive, I will become positive; and if I start acting happy, I will become happy. It is amazing, but when I act enthusiastic, others around me become enthusiastic. When I act positive, others around me become positive. And when I act happy, others around me become happy. Life is rewarding, and we all have choices in life; we can choose to act positive or negative. I choose to act positive. We can act happy or we can act sad; I choose to act happy. Why would anyone in their right mind want to act sad? The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not fear. After all, I was born into this life as God’s greatest living miracle in the world. I owe it to Him, my family, and myself to be all I can be. Thank you, Lord. Amen.’
As Miss Lolita finished her daily positive statement, all I could do was look at her eyes and stare for a few seconds. Then I looked at Felicia, who had been mouthing the words along with Lolita. I realized just how powerful those words were. She had a smile on her face, and it all made perfect sense to me. There was silence in our area. I looked around the room at the elderly residents who were either sleeping in their wheelchairs or sitting and staring at nothing, self-absorbed in their own world.
This was truly an amazing 110-year-old woman who fully understood life. Miss Lolita understood what life really meant, while most of us are baffled by life’s purpose. Miss Lolita knew that to waste a life would be an insult to our Creator. Now it made perfect sense to me. God always has a master plan. Why else would Miss Lolita have entered the record books for longevity in Maryland and many other states? She had no doubt helped thousands of people with her philosophy of life and her motivation in general.
My story about Lolita was taking form. It would portray an extraordinary woman who changes people’s lives. But it would also portray a woman who lived through the three murders of 1923. I believed that event alone had changed Lolita’s life, as 1923 was when she had first realized that every life was the greatest living miracle in the world.
Then Miss Lolita shared something else that she had learned early in her life while reading the Bible with her uncle and her minister. It was the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25.
Lolita quoted the parable to Felicia and me by heart: “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his servan
ts and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew that I reaped where I did not sow and gathered where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have received what was my own with interest. So I will take the talent from you, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”
Miss Lolita explained that a talent was a unit of money, but the parable works well nowadays to teach us that our gifts and talents must never be wasted and hidden away, but maximized. And she said she believed that in the hereafter, we will be given a chance to review our lives in minute detail, second by second, over and over. We will be pleased with a life that was well spent and productive, or we will regret a life that was wasted and not maximized, and we will ponder the results for eternity.
While Miss Lolita spoke, I didn’t interrupt. Rather, I jotted notes and added material for my future news story. Actually, I had enough to run at least ten stories, but I knew I’d have to edit it down to one thorough and insightful story. The Hagerstown murders would surely be included in Miss Lolita’s story. They had to be. They were as much a part of who she grew up to be as was her uncle’s influence.
Like a nagging splinter that keeps a finger throbbing in pain, the 1923 murders kept haunting me. I was sure someone in the hereafter was communicating something important to me through my dreams. Someone was pushing me onward to uncover the long-forgotten murderers. The questions I had about the murders kept banging around in my head, clamoring to be presented to anyone who would listen. I was sure it was one of the three girls haunting me, but I also thought it could be Lolita’s Uncle Walter, the doctor. Someone was trying to give me clues. Every so often, the cross, the brick, and the lion ring would pop into my mind: the cross in front of the set of chipped red bricks, and the lion ring on a person’s finger. But it would end abruptly with no further clues. I knew from reading Lolita’s diary that she had had similar visions. How was I going to broach the subject she had once told me was off limits? The last thing I wanted to do was get a 110-year-old woman upset. She’d probably take a swing at me! I couldn’t risk raising her blood pressure.
Just then, Sergeant Pawler entered the room. He looked around at first, studying each person in the room carefully. Then he walked real close to Miss Lolita and said, “Ma’am, how are you doing on this fine day?” He was as sweet as an altar boy, and his eyes were friendlier than ever.
“Oh, hi, Sergeant. I’m just grand! I’ve got my angel Felicia here with me. She’s a doll. And for laughs, I have Louis here, who is in training for how to handle life and all its beauty.”
As Lolita said “beauty,” she turned and winked at Felicia, who smiled a shy grin.
She was indeed a wise old woman. She knew my heart had been broken before, and that life for me had been very empty. Miss Lolita could sense so much from my eyes, my posture, and the inflections of the words I spoke. She knew I needed an angel, someone who could give me a reason to exist. She knew I needed a pep talk about life, our purpose on earth, and, most of all, how we each are born as the greatest living miracle in the world. I needed that lesson more than anything else.
Felicia smiled at me, and once again, my heart skipped a beat. I wanted her so badly—not in any kind of sexual way, at least not at this time, but just to hold her close. I wanted to gaze into her eyes and enter another world. I wanted to escape, for even a short time, and tell her how much I cared for her. I needed her to tell me how much she cared for me. A man, as well as a woman, needs to know that someone they care for needs them very much.
That question kept coming back to me: where do we go from here? I would move heaven and earth to be with Felicia. I knew I had to tell her how I felt. I quickly returned Felicia’s smile and held it for a full two seconds. I felt like a kid in love for the first time. Her eyes sparkled and smiled back at me. Just then, Pawler stared at my stupid-looking smile. His eyes narrowed as he sized me up. I glanced down at my shoes.
Sergeant Pawler looked back at Miss Lolita and smiled. “You are the rare treasure of Hagerstown, Miss Lolita. Don’t let this clown here annoy you. I will be right down the hall. If he bothers you at all, just send for me and I will pistol whip him into the ground!” He giggled like a child.
“Oh, that won’t be necessary, Officer. I’ll just spray mace into his eyes. I always keep it handy!” She laughed.
“Oh, thanks, Miss Lolita!” I laughed. I always seem to get people pissed. “Just don’t give the mace to my boss; he’ll spray me blind for sure!”
“You?” she asked. “You look like a little angel.”
“Don’t let my pretty face fool you.”
“With that load of crap, I’m out of here,” said Pawler. “I’ll be at the entrance. Good day, ladies.” He smiled, still studying Felicia as he moved away. He knew she was beautiful. And he also realized I was crazy about her. What he couldn’t figure out was what the hell she saw in me, and it clearly irked him. It was all over his face.
As he walked out of the room, he kept looking back and forth between Felicia and me and shaking his head.
“Again, I’ll be at the front entrance if you need me, Lou.”
“Okay, Sarge,” I said.
“So, Louis, do you have enough background for your news story?” Lolita asked.
“Miss Lolita, I am getting there. But I must say, I have never met anyone as interesting as you.”
“Listen, Sonny, I am just trying to be myself, and help people along the way. We all are great and special. No one is ever better than anyone else; they are just different. Anything else in the diary you want to talk about?”
“Well, there are a few things, but one thing comes to mind: the various visions you have had.”
“Oh, my, I have had so many visions. You see, when I was a young girl, I had very intense dreams. At least, I thought they were dreams, until Uncle Walter taught me how to distinguish the difference between a dream and an actual vision. You see, dreams stem from the subconscious mind; they are played out while you’re asleep. A vision is something more real.”
“You mention early on in the diary seeing a beautiful woman in a white gown.”
“Yes. When I was around fifteen, I had a few visions of a beautiful woman I later learned was the Virgin Mary.”
“That’s wild!” I exclaimed.
“Well, at the time, I didn’t realize how very special it was, but years later it sank in.”
“What was it like—the vision?”
“Oh, my—she was the most be
autiful woman I had ever seen. She was enveloped in the brightest light ever. She kept telling me that I would have a long life on earth. And she told me that I would change a great many lives of the people I met along the way. And this was my purpose in life: to touch, change, and help as many people as I could.”
“Amazing! Did she say anything about heaven?”
“The Virgin Mary actually showed me heaven through one of my visions. And, oh, my, I had never seen anything so pristine, so bright, so perfect in my entire life. It was only for a few seconds, but it was the most exhilarating and intense feeling ever. When I asked her if I would be going to heaven, the Virgin Mary explained that not everyone goes to heaven immediately. Many go into somewhat of a waiting area for what is sometimes a long period of time, and they graduate to heaven only through prayers said for them by people on earth.
“When I asked if I would go to heaven, the Virgin Mary said that I would, but only after many years of good deeds on earth. She said that I had to earn my way to heaven, and that I must pray for all non-believers and sinners, and for all the clergy of the world, because they, too, sin like us.”
“Do you still get visions?” I asked, my mouth hanging open a bit in anticipation.
“No, not of the Virgin. Those visions started and stopped in the same year. But every few years I receive strong messages that I feel are from her, and I do receive very strong visions of other things. My uncle taught me how to calm my body to open myself to receiving visions.”
“You must feel very special.”
“Listen, Sonny, I will tell you that I am truly blessed. To have a life as great as mine, I can only be blessed. Every second is a blessing, and we must thank God through prayer and fasting for all that we have been given.”
“Miss Lolita, don’t take this the wrong way, but are you scared of dying?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I was almost sorry I had asked such a stupid question to a woman who was 110 years old.
Felicia looked at me with a puzzled look on her face, as if to say, “Not a good question.”
Defying Death in Hagerstown Page 14