The Man in the Bowler Hat

It was him again. That strange old man with his hands wrinkled with age and eyes that had seen too much. This was the third time this week I had seen him! I tried to keep my head down and pretend I hadn't seen him, but he was too clever. He gave me a dramatic bow and tipped his bowler hat at me. Not knowing what to do, I curtsied back. This seemed to please him and he went back to feeding the pigeons that seemed to know him.

He was a very odd man. He wore the same black suit that had been worn with age and could sometimes be heard humming to himself a unique melody I had never heard before. He also carried a rocked wooden cane made from a mysterious wood. I was cursed to keep seeing him. No matter how many detours I took to avoid him or where I was, he was always there. It was almost scary.

But what frightened me more was whenever I tried to point him out to someone else, he vanished, as if he was never there in the first place. I knew I wasn't imagining him. At least, I didn't think I was. I tried to remember the first time I had seen him, but looking back it seemed as if he had always been there. But surely this was impossible! It was not as if I had seen him when I was a child, right?

I shook the thought from my mind and headed to work. I didn't have time to think about these delusions if that's even what they were. I walked quickly to the bus stop, but I couldn't get the strange man out of my head.

I vaguely heard a noise as I crossed the street, and I turned to come face to face with a bright red car! I froze in fear and felt a hand yank me back onto the sidewalk. The car honked at me and my rescuer before continuing on. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked to see who had saved my life, but there was no one there. I gazed around in awe and confusion.

"Who saved me?" I wondered aloud.

I briefly saw a man in a bowler hat before he turned the corner.

"Wait!" I yelled, racing after him. However, when I ran around the corner there was no one there.

Was I imagining more strange things? No! The car was real and someone had saved me! I had seen that hat before, but where?

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. I couldn't focus on my work at all and my concerned boss sent me home early. Stepping off the bus, I began to walk towards my house when I saw him. The strange man once again in the bowler hat.

The hat! Of course! He had saved me!

He was sitting on a park bench reading a book. I sat beside him and he put the book down. Something told me he had been expecting me.

"It was you, wasn't it?" I said, "You saved me."

"Yes," he admitted, "Yes, I did."

"Thank you," was all I could think of to say.

"Just doing my job," he answered humbly.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I would've thought you would have figured it out by now, Natalie," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"You know my name?" I gasped, startled.

"Of course," he replied, as if it was perfectly normal, "I know everyone's name."

"Impossible!" I whispered.

"Nothing's impossible," he smiled.

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"It's simple really," he chuckled, "I'm a guardian angel."

I don't know how long I stared at him. My words seemed to have escaped me and I sat stuttering as he began to laugh. His laugh was loud and booming, scarring the pigeons that had been listening to our conversation. I began to laugh too. The man must be bonkers, there's no way he's my guardian angel.

"You don't believe me, do you?" he observed as if he had read my mind.

"No," I said, "It's crazy."

"Well then tell me, Natalie Smithe. Who do you think I am?" he demanded.

"Some weirdo who has splinters in the windmill of his mind," I mumbled more to myself than to him.

"And how old do you think I am?" he asked.

"I don't know," I stated, " And I don't want to know. I have had enough of this craziness." With those words, I stood and started walking away.

"Natalie, wait!" the old man called, but I didn't listen maybe if I had things would've been different. Maybe I could have prevented what happened next. I heard a thud on the ground and glanced back at the man. He was laying on the ground unmoving. I sprinted to him. His eyes were closed as if he was sleeping.

"Sir!" I pleaded, "Sir, wake up!"

But he didn't move. I checked for a pulse like I had seen them do in the movies, but I felt nothing.

"Sir, please don't be dead!" I begged. I dove into my purse and pulled out my phone, but before I could dial 911 his eyes flickered open.

"Natalie?" he choked his voice nothing but a whisper.

"I'm here," I whispered, "I'm going to call an ambulance."

"No!" he cried, "They won't get here in time."

"I thought guardian angels couldn't die!" I yelled.

"And I thought you didn't believe me," he said managing a small smile.

"I don't but that doesn't mean I don't care that you're dying! I don't know what to do!" I sobbed trying to hold in the tears.

"Natalie, I'm not dying. I'm just...fading away." he said gritting his teeth in pain

"Stop talking nonsense!" I shouted, "You're dying."

"I told you...I'm not dying. Just fading...away." He was struggling even to speak.

He held up his hand for me to see, but there was nothing to see. It was gone!

"I was your guardian angel...since you were...a little girl." he continued, "But...you don't need me...anymore."

"How do you know that? Maybe I do! Maybe I still need you! I don't even know your name!" I exclaimed.

"No one's ever...asked me that...before," he said sadly.

"What's your name, Mr. guardian angel?" I asked.

"Issac," he said.

That was the last thing he said to me before his eyes closed forever and he faded into nothing. It was strange and to be honest I thought I had lost my mind. I turned to go home, I needed a nap after all this craziness. However, when I turned around I almost stepped on a black bowler hat.