Never Alone

The silken lining of the threadbare coat slid over his arm for the millionth time. Baring his weight on the cane, he shuffled over to the wooden dresser in the corner of the musty room. Papers draped over its edges as if they were decorative doilies. Books collected dust and used tea cups sat in their saucers, remnants of dried tea staining the delicate china cup bottoms.

He reached a shaky hand towards the mother of pearl knobs and pulled open the top right-hand drawer of the carven dresser. Fumbling only slightly with a linen handkerchief, he folded it without much thought to what he was doing. Placing it in his breast pocket he reached in the drawer again and chose a small handmade pouch from inside a mahogany box. Small purple flowers dotted the hand sewn sachet, he staired at it for a moment. Memories of summer skies and light breezes billowing the fabric gently, forcing the purple flowers to dance, and a smile… the sweetest smile he’d ever known. He smiled gently and opened his coat to store the pouch in his top pocket.

                                      ***

“Well…What book would you like to hear this time?” The raspy voice of the old man growled low in his throat. “We can do fantasy, thriller, or western. Which one sounds good to you?”

“I’m sorry sir, were you talking to me?” The gentle whisper of a woman standing next to him broke through his conversation. He staired at her blankly for a moment and gruffly shook his head. She held her hands up innocently and mouthed the words, “Ooh, sorry!” Then she walked back down the aisle and turned down the next one to search for a book farther away.

“No, I don’t know why she thought I was talking to her either…” He grumbled softly, then went back to the section of books laid out Infront of him. “So…Western then? Sounds good to me”

                                              ***

“A kid’s meal? Sir, we have the senior menu if you would like a smaller version of one our regular items. “The cheery voice of the fast-food worker broke through the old man’s thoughts as he rummaged into his pants pocket and pulled out his warn leather wallet.

“No,” The low growl sounded from his throat,” I want the toy.” Blushing slightly, he handed the worker exact change for his requested kids’ meal.

“Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry!” The worker apologized, ringing up the old man’s order and placing the money in the till. Handing the receipt, he said “Is the toy for a grandchild? Or do you Collect them?”

“No!” Another, more forceful gruff emanated from the old man’s throat. Snatching the receipt from the young pup’s hand he turned away quickly to cover up the deeper shade of red his faced had turned. “Every time I do this, you get me in trouble, you know that? Yeah, you know. You always did like to have a chuckle at my expense…”

As he shuffled across the restaurant to find a seat, the mother of a small child pulled her out of the old man’s way. Bending down she whispered something in the child’s ear. The little girl looked over her shoulder at the old man. Ignoring this very common occurrence he sat down gently at a booth, leaning his cane up against the seat.

“You’ve frightened another one. “He chuckled and waited patiently for his order to arrive.

                                                    ***

“I was thinking of cooking chicken for dinner. I think I’ll make rice and asparagus to go with it.” The old man’s low rumbling voice stated, staring at the produce department.

“That’s …nice…” Replied a man standing nearby, pulling the old man’s attention away from his shopping for a moment. He stared at the stranger for a moment, then replied with a grumble, “I wasn’t talking to you…” and pushed his shopping cart towards the asparagus.

“These look pretty good…they aren’t wilted, so that’s promising. I think they will make a nice side for tonight’s dinner, Don’t you think?”

“Why yes, I thought the asparagus looked quite nice today!” a woman filling a bag full of broccoli answered softly, smiling at the old man who grunted rudely “Wasn’t asking you…” She looked taken aback as he grabbed a small bunch and shoved it in a bag, grumbling as he walked past her about “rude and interrupting people everywhere.”

         Having finished his shopping, the old man made his way through the store and to the check out station. The lines were long, so he pulled into the closest one. “Things sure have changed. There are more and more people in this grocery store every time we come in here…” He sourly grumbled.

“That’s a good thing though! That means that the store is doing well!” An old woman with a pretty smile grinned at him from behind. He turned to stare at her, forcing himself to bite his tongue as she smiled gently at him, her eyes twinkled sweetly in the florescent store lights.

         “I remember this store when it first opened in 1945. Back then this neighborhood was poor, and now look at how its grown!” She mused happily.

         He stared with his mouth gaped open for a few seconds, then sulkily replied,” I preferred it back then. Not so many nosey or talkative people to deal with.” He turned his face away in embarrassment. The old woman just continued to smile, and nodded her head knowingly.

“Yes, I suppose that is one way to look at it.” She said sweetly.

         He grumbled under his breath “No I don’t know why people always feel the need to hold a conversation with me…I wouldn’t be so up front with a stranger and neither would you.”

“Oh, but having conversations throughout the day are very good for you! They keep you young!” The smiling woman behind him continued merrily.

“I don’t want to be young, and I wasn’t talking to you!” He pushed his cart angrily up to the conveyor belt and began to place his items on it, panting while he worked.

 Paying the cashier in great haste, he pushed his cart full of filled grocery bags towards the exit. Halting for a moment at the “Toys for Soldier families” Bin, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the kid’s meal toy. Dropping it in he began to shuffle towards the door. “Another contribution my dear” He croaked, he was still winded from shopping and felt a little sweaty from the excursion.

“Excuse me sir!” One of the employees hollered from the checkout “you seem to have a leak of some kind, there is dust falling out all over the floor. Did you by any chance buy flour or some kind of seasoning that might have a hole in it?”

         Taken aback the old man stared at the cashier. “No!” he gruffly answered, looking down into his cart he didn’t see anything falling out. Taking a step forwards, he noticed something falling down himself. Panicked he reached into his pocket and pulled out the flowered pouch.

“Oh no!” his voice quivered, “you’ve a hole!” he hastened out of the store, panting quickly as he tried to push his grocery cart towards his car, muttering to himself over and over again “I gotta get you home…I gotta get you home….”

         People walking calmly towards the grocery store began to stare as the old man puffed heavily and eventually collapsed on one knee. His vision became hazy, and he groped his chest tightly with one hand. People began to gather and pull out their phones to call the paramedics. His face wilting into the ground, he took one last look at the flowered pouch slack in his grasp. He closed his eyes and the pouch fell from his fingers scattering an ashy substance around him, Sirens blared in his ears for a moment and then all went silent.