- He pushes his walker down the hall towards me. He stops,
chats with two nurses they both laugh, he accelerates moving closer.
I comment to the nurse who will introduce us "He's going to get
a speeding ticket." She laughs as she steps forward to slow the marauding
oldster.
-
- "Angus? This man would like to speak with you write
a story about you. Is that okay? Nancy said it would be okay." Through
big gold-framed glasses, Angus looks directly into my eyes he examines
me closely. I smile, nodding affirmatively my eyebrows arch in question.
-
- "Is it gonna be truth or fiction?" Before I
can answer Angus erupts into a hearty belly laugh the nurse giggles shaking
her head we retire to the staff library.
-
- Angus, 85, is slightly built and small. His face has
fine features that transform quickly into a happy beaming countenance.
His belly laugh is delightful to hear. He hails from the early halcyon
days of a 1900's farming community a community located a mere fifteen
miles from where I now live.
-
- "What did you do for a living Angus?" "I
never had many jobs. In my day you got a job and hung onto it. I guess
I had 3 jobs in all. I worked at the shipyards for about 5 years hey,
do you know Charlie Hanna?" He looks at me intensely, as though Charlie
is a man all should know. "No, I don't Angus. Tell me about him."
"Well, there isn't much to tell, really. He got me the job at the
shipyard is all. I worked as a carpenters-helper for a bit then went to
work for ALCAN -- spent the rest of my life with them."
-
- Angus watches closely as I scratch my notes, his eyes
magnified through his large glasses. Like many of the men at the home,
his white hair is combed back neatly to the right. I conclude it must be,
the in style.'
-
- "Did you ever farm Angus?" "Farm? Yes
I did. I did enough of it to make me move into town and get another job."
I laugh -- Angus smiles. "Do you miss farming?" "Oh, no.
It was a tough way of life. The land was rough. I don't know how dad did
it with five kids and all. He never wasted anything you know."
-
- "What was your dad like?" "Dad was a good
man." Angus points his index finger to the table making contact. "He
was strict, a no-nonsense fellow. We lived by a lake and dad didn't want
us by the lake. I once made the mistake of going by the lake I never made
it again. He sent me to the woods to get a gad." "A gad? What's
a gad?" "A switch, you know, a stick." I nod with a slight
grimace. "He gave me three or four good ones. Nope, I never went
by the lake again."
-
- "Kids don't seem to be disciplined these days don't
get me wrong, I was a kid once, too. Nowadays they run the streets at night
parents not knowing where they are or what they are doing or worse yet,
the parents don't care." Angus sighs. "It's not right,"
he says quietly.
-
-
- "Speaking of kids, Angus, I talked with your daughter
Nancy." "Yes, she works here," he says smiling. "Dawn
wasn't here and they put me in touch with Nancy, her assistant. I told
Nancy I wanted to speak with a very important person. She said, I have
just the person for you. My dad. He lives right here.'" Angus looks
as though he will burst with pride. "She's a good girl," he says
warmly. "I will let you in on a little secret. No matter how old they
get, you will always see them as kids . . . she'll always be my little
girl."
-
- "Did you ever have a miracle in your life, Angus?"
Angus looks deep into my eyes. He stares -- perhaps looking for the source
of the question. "Yes," he says in a voice of distant recollection.
"It was just after WW1. I caught something I think someone brought
back from the war. We called it diphtheria in those days. Dad had called
the neighbors over because he thought I was not going to make it. Dad took
me fourteen miles by horse and cutter, to Verona. He was convinced he would
lose me. I was gasping for my breath." Angus gasps several times animating
his plight at the time. "The doctor gave me a shot of something it
turned the tides, I started getting better." Angus stares into the
corner with glassy eyes. He speaks softly his voice trembling. "You
know, I was not very big, I was only five at the time a baby. I was very
weak. Dad made me a little rocking chair so I could wiggle it around the
room, you know, to get around." Angus stares back through time, pools
of tears forming under his glasses.
-
- "Do you know what dad did?" His eyebrows raise,
his stare does not shift. "He sat across the kitchen and pulled out
a quarter it was a lot of money back then. He told me I could keep it
if I would just walk over and get it. I wasn't too fast . . . I held myself
steady using the wall . . . I got that quarter." Angus pauses, his
eyes close tears stream from their corners. He whispers, "He hugged
me so tight . . . so tight." Unconsciously, Angus moves his arms closer
to his body as his father's memory, love and arms, hold him once again.
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|