The Man In The Brown Coat

Normally I really don’t like people in my house. I’m not a very organized person so my house is kind of a mess. But this man… I don’t know but there was such kindness in his smile and the way he asked to stay for an hour or two. So naturally, I let him in without really thinking about how much of a mess my house was. I apologized straight away but the response I got was unexpected. 

“Oh I don’t mind Miss, I’ve lived in worse areas so believe me it’s quite alright.” huh that was an oddly nice way of saying I’m not too messy. 

“Would you like something to drink sir?” I ask. Mom always said to be hospitable and a good host. 

“If you have any tea that would be excellent.” He said with a grovel in his voice. His voice in particular was very interesting to me, it was raspy and horse, like smoker’s lung. I think tea would definitely do it some good. As I’m preparing the tea for him I look over to just do a double-take of the man I brought in my home. He has a worn brown coat with some fluff on top of the hood. He is also pretty old, a rough estimate would be around his sixties to late fifties. He has a scar on his cheek and is scary looking, to be honest. He catches me staring and smiles at me. I look away out of embarrassment. I bring the tea over to him and ask him for his name.

“Oh, my name? It’s Rodney Smith. How about you Miss, what’s your name?” Oh yeah, that’s right I didn’t tell him my name when I let him in.

“My name is Rebecca, but you can call me Becca, most people do.”

“Well, Miss. Becca, It’s awfully strange of you to let me in your home considering how I look and all.” He says with a smirk, 

“In all honesty, I don’t know why I let you in…” We sit in an awkward silence after I say this, stupid stupid stupid now he thinks I want him to go… gotta think of an icebreaker… I got it!

“Say, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you knocking on my door, to begin with?”

“Your neighbor didn’t answer.” Well, that’s a very simple response to a very difficult question.

“And why were you knocking on their door?” 

“To see my daughter.” Huh, I suppose that makes sense.

“Wait why were you going to my neighbor’s house to see your daughter?”

“Well that’s… a long story, if you have time I would be willing to tell it.” He says.

“Well I currently have all the time in the world so go ahead, sir.”

“Please call me Rodney, or at most Mr. Smith.”

“Alright then, Mr. Smith, please tell me your story.” I was not prepared for the story to follow.

“Well, Miss. Becca, where to start, when I was only a twenty-something kid I decided to get married to the most beautiful girl in the world. In my eyes, she was the best thing that had ever happened to me. She was at the top of her class looking to graduate college with a Four-point six GPA.” Wow, that’s high, I was at a measly three-point one, 

“Well, she wasn’t only intellectually superior to all she was by far the kindest sweetest girl I had ever met. Our first shared kiss was under an Arby’s sign when we had only been dating for… what was it now… around four weeks or so.” Huh, I never had waited that long for a first kiss, usually second or third date they try to go in for one, I shoot them down of course but still. 

“When we had been dating for about two years when we decided to get married, we were young and on top of the world so we didn’t feel like waiting any longer. I felt as though I had known her for my whole life. After a while, around three to four years of marriage, we decided to have a child together. Now learning that your spouse wants to have children with you is one of the best feelings in the world. Knowing that this person loves you so much that they are willing to share this with you is amazing.” His voice by now had gotten a whole lot better, more smooth, and less croaky, what the heck is in this tea? 

“After nine months I had been given the best gift in the world, my daughter Jamie Schmidt. When I first saw her I was just overwhelmed with happiness. Seeing this little human, this baby, that my wife and I had made was just the culmination of our love. And it only helped to strengthen our bond together, no longer as just lovers but now also as parents.” A tear slowly rolled down his grizzled face as he spoke, I handed him some tissues and he thanked me. After a little while, he continued again.

“But not all good things can last forever as you can tell, when my daughter was only one I had decided to go join the armed forces and fight in Afghanistan. Now I don’t know why I joined at the time but now I think I’ve figured it out. I felt so useless to my wife and daughter, she was the one paying all the bills while I sat home taking care of Jamie. I felt as though I could be doing more for myself and for my country, so I enlisted in the army to fight in Afghanistan. Now let me tell you outright Miss Becca, that was one of if not the dumbest and selfish decisions I have ever made. I unknowingly at the time had left my wife and child to fend for themselves, I figured that at the time I could ask my brother to help them out and I did do that, but he couldn’t find time to juggle both his family and mine. And by the time he couldn’t do it anymore I was already in Nam.” He was silent for a while after this, just staring at the floor in his own self-reflection I supposed.

“Now I won’t tell you what happened while I was in Nam because that’s not what you asked about. So anyway, by the time I came back it had been about four years and I hadn’t seen my family in forever. I was so excited to be able to see my wife and child again. I raced back home... only to find an empty house… with a letter on the living room table…” He pulled out a note from his coat pocket and handed it to me, I suppose he cants bear to read it out loud. The note read;  

Dear Rodney, 

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I bet you came home expecting some big welcome home party when you came back. But I’m sorry, I just can’t do that for you. I’ve been feeling this sort of weight since you left but I can’t face you and tell you. You’ve been gone for so long and I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I just went to a couple of bars, that’s all. And there I met him. Someone who was able to make me happy. Someone who could be there for my daughter when you apparently couldn’t. I’m sorry Rod but I’m leaving you, I know you probably don’t want to hear it like this but it what you deserve, you put Jamie and I through hell, I had to juggle work, paying bills, making the food, and raising an infant all on my own. Because you decided to go on a self-discovery trip to the other side of the world. Im sorry for all this, I’m sure you went through enough as it is over there, but your own selfish actions had caused you to lose a family as well.

Goodbye, my lightning rod,

-Emily

There were obvious tear markings on the letter, someone had been crying on this before. I put the letter down and put my hand on his own. He looked at me with the saddest smile someone could smile. 

“After that, I couldn’t bear to live with myself anymore, after what had happened to me in Nam and now that… I was planning to kill myself, I had walked for hours on end looking for another solution but it was the only one that seemed to make the most sense to me. I had been so far into my own thoughts that I didn’t even notice the four-year-old ride past me on her trike.”

“W-Was that your?” I asked not being able to hold in my question.

“Heh yes, that was my daughter. Now at that time, I had no idea it was her until her mother, my former wife stopped me as I was walking by.”

“Well, what happened next?!” I was hooked, I had to know what happened next!

“Hehe well im sorry Miss. Becca but im afraid my time has run out, I need to go back home to check on my dogs.”

“Wait so you’re not homeless?” 

“No? Wherever did you get that idea from? I just wanted someone to talk to. And im happy it was you, Miss. Becca. Say why don’t I come back again tomorrow? I’d be happy to finish the story for you.” He said with a warm smile

“I’d love that,” I said with a smile of my own. He then proceeded to thank me for the tea and he went on his way. Now I’d better get to cleaning since im going to be having a guest over tomorrow and all!