It
was a so-so day at work, a familiar place and a
few
new faces. Things maintained pretty much
the
same.
The
second shift was about to begin. He was in the
last
few hours of his work. He looked forward to
seeing
his friend enter the store with her smiling
eyes
and warm greeting.
It
was the little things in life which gave him a lift
each
day, and his friend certainly did that for him.
There
was no hanky-panky going on between them.
He
was twenty-some years older than she and more
like
a daughter to him. She was gifted with the beauty
of
youth and a sincere and bubbly personality,
appealing
to everone she reached.
He
was into photography on the side, and one day
when
things were a bit slow at work, he asked her
if
he could take her picture. And several years latter
he
was glad he did.
As
time passed and the inevitability of life’s changes
came
into play, both got new jobs and went their
separate
ways. They kept in touch by phone and
the
internet now and again. His friend had married
a
former fellow employee, but for reasons unbe-
knownst
to him things didn’t work out for them.
Such
a shame, she deserved better, but such was
life
in these rapidly changing times. And he and
his
eccentric experiences knew a hell of a lot
about
spontaneous and unforeseen yet inevitable
changes.
Through
mutual acquaintances, he got word that
she
had come upon hard times, had lost her job,
had
become homeless and was living on the street
with
some other man.
Her
difficulties didn’t end there. She had con-
tracted
a rare flesh-eating biological disease
which
required several major operations.
The
last he had heard from her, she was in
need
of money to pay for procedures and
care.
He contributed what he could afford
through
one of those go-fund-me sites on
the
internet. Last he heard, her condition
had
improved some. And then he got word
that
things had taken a turn for the worse,
and
that she had passed away. He was heart-
broken.
Such
a beautiful soul taken away prematurely
at
such an early age. And he never had the
chance
to see her again and give her his loving
concern
. Goddamn it! the uncertain cruelty of
life
sometimes.
Now
he in his mid-seventies and infirm
himself
often thinks of his beautiful friend.
Her
life cut short and never to have a family
and
children of her own. Never to have the
blessed
experience of being known lovingly
by
little children as, “Nana.”
Gladly
he would have given her ten years
of
his own life for her to have lived those
glory
years in life. She was so deserving
of
that.
He
held that precious picture of her
he
had taken so many years earlier.
He
remembered anticipating the
start
of second shift at work, her
entering
the store, and those beautiful
smiling
eyes.
He
never expected to see the day.
Life
is all too often that way
-30-
Chris
Hanch 8-27-2021
