No Time To Waste

Akua knew something was off...what it was, she didn't know...this indescribable feeling overwhelmed her everytime she passed by the corner store at the edge of her grandfather's block. Akua visited him more often since her grandmother died earlier that year. She noticed he had become more and more withdrawn and reclusive since the love of his life for over 45 years had left him alone to roam the Earth. Timbu had missed Ayanni so much. They'd met when they were 17, married at 23, and here he was at 68 wondering what he was going to do for the rest of his life without her.

Everytime Akua walked by this corner store she'd look up and see the sign, " No Time To Waste"faintly behind a more visible one, " Benito's Bodega". Those words, "No Time To Waste" lingered with her the entire time she rode the bus home. She'd peer out the bus window, staring at the world around her, oblivious to the strangers on the bus. Akua wondered what it meant, although the words were obvious it seemed to mean more, much more than four words could express. Akua knew at the age of 27, that she had wasted a lot of time with her life. She had been a wayward teen and almost a teen mother during those years. She went to school but her work and ethic was average. Never really taking interest in anything academic made school hard for her. Upon graduation she wasn't even enthusiastic about walking. She took no interest or pride in her accomplishment. Now as an adult she spent her time working at a coffee shop, and budgeting her money to pay for a tiny apartment that cost almost all of her paycheck. Wasted time equaled a wasted existence.

This morning Akua visited her grandpa as usual, but her grandpa seemed more agitated than normal." Pop Pop, what's the matter? You seem angry today...something happened?"Akua asked Timbu gently as she made herself a cup of coffee.

" I'm wasting time...though I don't have it to waste..." Timbu replied.

Akua rested her hand on his shoulder and then took his hand, " so what would you like to do? What can I do?" Timbu looked at her with weary eyes and said, "you're wasting time too..Let me take you somewhere." Akua sat down beside him thinking where he could take her. Was Pop Pop losing his mind? Did he know something she didn't? He was old and lonely but she also knew he was very wise." Ok Pop Pop, where will we go? What will we do?” Timbu peered out the window and said," we go to the garden in the morning, we won't waste anymore time.”

After having dinner with her grandfather Akua leaves for the bus home, and again she sees the sign, “No Time To Waste”. This time she looks at it longer than usual, thinking to herself what does it really mean? She thinks back to the conversation she had with Pop Pop and how he wanted to go to the garden to show her something. She contemplates what her grandfather thinks he can do to make his time more valuable and what role she will play in it.

 What is time anyway? Who knows what makes it so precious when it goes so quickly? When she was growing up Akua was always told she was wasting time. Her grandmother Ayanni would repeatedly remind her that she should be on time and time waits for no one. Akua would continuously think we have plenty of time and it seemed like she did, but here she was as an adult feeling the waste she had given to time, how she ended up in a frustrating job, a tiny living space, no husband, no children. In reality she was quite unhappy with herself. She’d wished her grandmother was still here, and how she would help her Pop Pop get over Ayanni’s death. After standing on the corner for almost 10 minutes Akua hustles to the bus stop. Almost instantaneously the bus arrives, she boards and takes the ride but this time as she rides she looks at the passengers. Each of them is very different looking, doing mostly the same things like looking on their phones or talking on them. She notices a child playing with a furry brown and white stuffed bunny, a woman sits beside her looking at the child very intensely. Everytime the child smiles she does also. A man sits right beside her, grunting and vigorously texting on his  phone. He mumbles something and grimaces without noticing that Akua is looking at him. Akua notices finally all the instances of time and how these strangers are using it. Time is valued so differently and time is so fleeting. By the time each of them reach their destinations much time will have been wasted, but wasted for who?

Early the next morning Akua gets up, showers, has a snack, and leaves to pick up her grandfather. The evening before when she had called him he told her to dress in gardening clothes. She knew exactly what he meant because the garden is where she spent a lot of her childhood with him and her grandmother tending to the garden, growing things over time and talking about hopes and dreams and who she was going to be when she grew up. Akua would always say a nurse or a doctor and her Pop Pop would say that's good and how he hoped she’d be happy doing that. Akua realized that she cherished the moments she had been given with her grandparents. She understood that those memories brought warmth and comfort to her when she was down and sometimes, especially after Ayanni’s death, consoled her through bouts of uncontrollable crying. 

Walking around the corner to her grandfather's house, the sign she always sees appears more emboldened and clear.

As Akua walks up the block to her grandfather's home she begins to think that Pop Pop is on to something. She begins to smile as she climbs the steps and gingerly rings the bell. It takes her grandfather awhile to answer the door, he smiles slyly at her as he welcomes her in. She walks behind him, touching him on his shoulder rubbing it.

“You look ready to go Pop Pop, and your mood is much better!” Once they reach the living room she is surprised to see a man seated on the couches’ end staring curiously at her. 

“Akua, this is my friend, Benito...his father owns the corner store you pass on your way here. Benito helps me from time to time and today he’s going to help us with the garden.” Akua was a bit flustered at this announcement because her grandfather hadn’t told her ahead of time and this stranger, Benito, was handsome. He seemed to look at her with excitement in his eyes and for some reason she did too.

“Ok, Pop Pop...the more the merrier is what they say...Benito are you that into gardening?...My grandfather is a master gardener you know”, she asks him trying not to continue to break eye contact with him, Akua felt a little sheepish. After a brief moment of hesitation, Benito stands up and says, “ yes, I love to garden. My Mom and Dad had me helping in our garden since I was a little boy. The times we had. I miss it so much. Since they passed away last year I haven’t been there in the garden. I finally decided that I wanted to be happy again... today will definitely not be a waste of my time.” Suddenly Akua felt warm and comforted inside. She smiled warmly at him and then her grandfather. Touching her Pop Pop’s face with the palm of her hand and then her finger tips, she says, “ok, let’s not waste anymore time…”.