Alone

“The smell of hamburgers cooking on a grill while hanging out with friends on the 4th of July”.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah… I don’t know why I thought of that. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve been invited by anyone to do that”.

“I’m sorry. That sucks. For me, I would say leaves on trees in Autumn.”

Brian sighed as he rested his hands on top of his waist that bulged out whenever he sat down. “Man, I feel so bad for you. I feel like my issues are all me. I gained weight. I stopped socializing, that’s on me. But, you… you lost your sight. That’s just not fair. That’s just really bad luck”.

Mark tapped his cane on the tile floor in front of him. He then ran his hand across the wooden bench that he and the gentleman were sitting on. It felt smooth and solid. “What color is the bench that we are sitting on?” “It like a mahogany color” “Mahogany, huh? That’s a good description.”

The sound that his cane made echoed a little louder than it did earlier. “It must be close to closing time. Everyone is leaving.”

Brian jerked his head back a little in surprise. “How the hell do you know that? You’re blind”. A smile spread across Mark’s face. “You start to become much more aware of your surroundings when you have to. The space in the museum is more voluminous and the temperature has dropped slightly with fewer people around.

“So I got ask what is a blind man doing at a museum?” Mark gruffed in frustration. I arranged for someone to come with me today and serve as a guide to describe what he saw as we walked through the museum. My hope was that I could at least be able to glimpse in my mind what everyone else is seeing, but it was a waste of money. The guy that they sent was not really invested in his job. His descriptions weren’t any better than I could have just gathered from listening to an audiobook. I told him to just leave and that I would find my way home on my own. “What about you? Why are you at a museum all by yourself? 

Brian took a deep breath as he thought about his answer. “Honestly, on a deep level I came here for the same reason you did. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to experience something again. I hoped that being around other people in such an amazing exhibit that I could feel again. I prayed that I could somehow feel connected to other people, even strangers, by being close by them as we looked at something spectacular…. it didn’t work. It just reminded me how alone I really am…. What I realized is that I don’t want to go just somewhere. I don’t even want to just look at something. I want to be moved by what I’m doing! I want to come away as a different person that I was before I experienced it and I want to feel like I am connected to those around me…. And I say all of this as I sit alone on a bench after spending a whole day walking around a museum.”

“Well, I can tell you that you seem like a pretty awesome guy to me and coming from a blind man, I can tell you that how someone looks really doesn’t mean a damn thing. 

Brian let out a loud laugh that echoed in the wide-open space. The remaining patrons all looked in his direction. His face reddened a bit. His outburst even surprised himself! “Good point, my friend, good point!” Just then, a nightguard walked by and announced that the museum would be closing in 10 minutes and he advised patrons to find their way to the exit. 

Brian watched as Mark stood up and began checking his surroundings before moving forward. “Hey, you wanna do something a little bit crazy and a little bit illegal?” A wry smile crossed Mark’s face. “Up for it? Hell, I think I’ve been craving it!” Brian’s radiant smile stretched from ear to ear.  “I know this museum pretty well and there’s an exhibit that I think you might enjoy. We can try hide out until after closing and then I’ll give you an after-hours, personalized tour!” Mark pretended to be thief trying to sneak lifting his knees to his chest with each step. “Alright, lead the way!” Brian’s face had a waggish smile for the first time in many years. They both stood and started making their way towards to exit. About halfway there, Brian whispered in his direction. Let’s stop in the men’s restroom up here on the right. Brian lightly grabbed Mark’s elbow and led him in. Ok, get into one of the stalls and we’ll wait. Do you have a watch that you can tell you the time”? “Yeah”. They each found their way into the adjoining stalls. “We’ll stay in here till 10:30. Don’t make a sound. If the guard comes in to check, just lift your legs and try to balance. We’ll have to hope and pray that their toilets are equipped and handle a 400-pound man balancing on it!” Brian’s heart was thumping in his chest and he could feel how flush his cheeks were, but he didn’t want the feeling to end. 

About fifteen minutes past, when the door to the bathroom opened. Brian thought to himself that it must be the guard. He whistled a slow tune as he walked in. The whistling got closer & closer. Brian could see a pair of old, black leather shoes with black pants walking slowly through the bathroom. The walk had an almost sauntering place. Just as he got to the stall that Brian was in, the guard stopped right in front of the closed stall and fell silent. Brian held his breath and tried his best to remain still. He could see his hands trembling and he was counting the second in his head. Then, the guard pivoted away on the heel of his shoes, and he began whistling again as he left the room. 

The whistling slowly faded away and everything went quiet. Another fifteen minutes pasted, but both men remained where they were for another minute or so. Brian stepped down and gently opened the stall door. Mark did the same just a moment later. Brian turned toward Mark, “you still wanna do this?”. Mark paused for a second. “Yeah, I think I do.”

They walked quietly towards the east end of the museum. “We’re coming up on a really large art display. It is a life-size small park setting with a walkway that is surrounded by metallic trees. The metal in the trees is molded to resemble bark and they are colored as oak, maple, hickory, and many others. “The leaf colors vary from tree to tree. Some are pine green. Others are scarlet.” Brian guided Mark’s hand up to the leaves of the trees and he could feel the edges and grooves of the leaves. As he felt them, Mark’s caught his breath, “the names of the colors are etched into the underside of the leaves!” “This one is auburn!”. Brian reached up to another tree, “this one is amber gold!”. “This is one sugar maple! Just then the leaf fell to the floor with a ringing clank. Mark abruptly stopped moving. “Did I break it?” Brian picked it, “No, they have hooks that can latched on and off. They might change the colors around periodically to keep the exhibit fresh.”

Suddenly the lights farther down the hall turned on and footsteps could be heard coming their way. Brian looked around. There was nowhere to hide. Next the lights in their section turned on. Mark asked quietly “what’s happening?”. “We’re busted” 

Just then the guard came around the corner. He looked directly at them with a stone-cold stare. “Ok, you two. Come with now.” He walked them in the direction of the museum offices. As he got to the conference room, he directed them to take a seat. “You two stay put and don’t even think about doing anything. I will be back in just a minute and I’m locking the door behind me and taking the key with me.”

Brian sighed, “I’m sorry. This is my fault. It was stupid of me to do this. I really thought it would be no big deal”. Mark shook his head. “I wanted to do it. It’s a moment in time. We’ll be okay.”. Just then the door could heard unlocking and the guard entered again. He held a small, brown paper bag and a folded piece of paper. He sat down at the table facing both men. “I overheard you two talking as you sat on the bench before closing. I knew what your plans were. He then handed the brown paper bag to Mark. “Inside this bag, are some of the leaves from the exhibit. I tried to pick as many colors as I could find.” He then handed the folded piece of paper to Brian. This is my home address. We are having a cookout next weekend and we would like for you to come.