It was a stormy night and was raining heavily when Emily and I finished our dinner in a restaurant last night. We were like, waiting at a nearby burger stall to wait for the rain to slow down. That was when I noticed a couple of stray dogs lying at a corner nearby… shivering from the cold of the storm. And I remarked this to Emily out of conscience,
Me : “Poor dogs. They must be feeling like shit right now.”
But instead of empathizing my view, Emily had her attention on something else there…
Emily : “Pity that old man.”
She was referring to an old man standing nearby, whom I did not notice…
Me : “Errr… dear, I think it’s a female dog. I didn’t see any testicles hanging out from it’s behind… and it has tits hanging under it…”
Emily : “Nooo.. you tool. I was referring to that old man standing there with a walking stick!”
That was only then I saw that diminutive old man Emily was referring to… probably in his 70′s… with spiraling thick spectacles… standing at edge of the water curtain, waiting for the rain to stop so that he could go home. He had nothing with him except a big pouch and a walking stick. No umbrella. The walking stick he was holding indicated that he probably had some walking difficulty… and the pouch probably contained a few million bucks from the sales of some designer drugs… or some unsold lottery tickets.
Me : “Oh ok… that old man. Yeah… poor old man too.”
Emily : “He must be feeling very miserable right now.”
Tears were rolling down my face. No, not because I was emo or anything, but because I just had a very big yawn. I contemplated the situation while scratching my tummy and finally decided to do what’s best for the old man.
Me : “Alright dear. I’m gonna bring that old man home. You stay here and make sure my burger comes with cheese… ok?”
Emily nodded in approval. I don’t know why I did that. I never like old people and I usually avoid them whenever I could. But then, something came to me that night and I did some good for a stranger – I offered to walk an old man home under my umbrella…
Me : “Hello uncle. I can see you’re stranded here. Where do you live? Do you want me to walk you home?”
Old man : “That would be great. I live right across there [points at a block of apartment opposite the place]… You happen to live there as well?”
Me : “No uncle… I’m doing this because I’m nice. *wink wink*” [I'm not very good at this... I sounded like a kidnapper, I have to admit]
Old man : “Oh…” [a hint of fear in his eyes]
Me : “I’m just kidding, uncle. I am waiting for my burger and I have some free time to kill…”
Old man : “That’s very nice of you.”
And so that old man got into my umbrella and we walked. The rain was getting heavier by the seconds, and it was practically falling down diagonally instead of vertically. I had to slant my umbrella in such an angle so that the old man doesn’t get wet. But then I got my ass wet instead, I was soaking wet like a sponge.
Anyway, we got on a dry corridor on the way to the apartment, and walked a dry distance before going out to the open. Halfway along the corridor, we walked past a video arcade center, and there were 2 teenage punks in front of it. The old man then walked towards the 2 punks and lifted his walking stick to point at them and hollered “Hoi!!!”. I thought the old man went out of his mind and was going to smack the crap out of the 2 kids, and was about to grab the old man out of there… but instead, saw them playfully greeted old man back like one of their own – “Whatttss uppppp apek!”… and they started to chat.
I was dumbfucked of course. I was suppose to walk him home, remember? And there he was, chatting with some punks… while I was standing there half drenched like an idiot with an umbrella waiting for him. He did that for over a minute, and then I had to gently interrupted their chat
Me : “Uncle… do you still want to go home? My umbrella’s waiting…”
Old man : “Oh… yes… I almost forgot. Let’s go… let’s go…”
And we resumed walking… slowly… as he was slow with his walking problems and all that. Then, it happened again. This time, it was the newspaper vendor on the curb. Again, the old man lifted up his walking stick, greeted that fella… and then chatted. I was beginning to feel uneasy at that time. Felt like breaking his stupid walking stick. Again I had to remind that old man about our journey home by pointing at his apartment block using my wet umbrella. He resumed walking.
When we’re about halfway through the open space under the pouring rain, I asked the old man
Me : “Uncle, where is the entrance to your apartment block?”
He suddenly stopped walking and looked at me in a confused state. He looked like he had limited resources in him that he could only use it to either walk or think. He was thinking.
Old man : “I think it’s there… but it’s nearer here… but they won’t let us pass…”
I was like – wtf ?? My back was basically all wet, because we stopped under the heavy rain for too long…
Me : “Never mind, uncle. We’ll take the long route. Just keep walking, don’t stop.”
And after we walked for about 5 minutes, I finally got the sloth speed old man back at his apartment block foyer. No shit, it was a journey full of obstacles and felt like a thousand years. But at least he thanked me for the kindness and that’s all it takes to make it worthwhile to help him out.
I returned to Emily at the burger stall after that and left the place. Back home, I discovered that the burger man did not put cheese into my bun. FUCK.
