Waving Not Drowning
This is a piece from a longer story, but it's also a snap so I'm sharing it here.
Shay ran up the hill and saw the back of a huge, beautiful house with a full green lawn, a small waterfall that went into a pool, and a brand new Porche in the driveway. She stopped to take it in when an old guy with tubes up his nose walked through a hedge wheeling a tank of oxygen behind him. He was not the least bit concerned or surprised to see someone in his yard.
“Hello,” he said.
Shay explained that her cat got out and she thought he might have run into his yard.
“Oh,” he said, “a cat will never make it out here.”
Shay smiled.
“The coyotes will tear him apart.”
“I mean—"
“You won’t see any cats around here. No.”
He was silent for a spell. He was a sweet guy, despite the brutal honesty.
“Well,” she said, “he’s very smart, he used to live on the streets.”
“No, not here, he’ll never make it”.
“Oh!” Shay let out a laugh in spite of herself, “I don’t…. think like that,” I said.
“Good for you,” he said. He was touching his nostrils where the hose was blowing oxygen into his nose. “It’s very strange getting old,” he said. “Nothing lives forever.”
Shay wasn’t sure where he was going with this line of thinking.
“Me, I’m on my way out,” he said.
“Do you mean--”
“Three months.”
Shay scratched her head and crossed her arms, “Is your family—”
“No”
“—Here?”
“Nope. Just me.”
“Oh.”
“Let me tell you—” his voice trailed off for a second and it seemed like he was going to get sad. He cleared his throat, “let me tell you three things I’ve learned about people.”
“Okay,” Shay said. She noticed his hand shaking by his side.
“You can get out of any trouble in life by saying, Thank you or I’m sorry.” He nodded slowly. “It’ll get you out of any bind. Trust me.” He fiddled with the tubes in his nose again and closed his eyes, “The second is: be with people who light up when they see you.”
“I like that one.”
The man looked confused for a second like he was searching for something in the sky, “— be with people who turn your lights on.”
“That’s a good.”
“It is indeed,” he said. “And the last is,” he let his mouth hang open and his voice made a very quiet groaning sound, “The last one is, listen to what a person does, not to what he says.”
“Listen to what he does,” Shay said, “I like the way you put that.”
“I think that’s right. It’s Iyanla Van Sant. Do you watch her?”
“I don’t.”
“She’s sensational.”
Shay thought she heard the cat in the hedge and looked over towards the house. An older woman walked outside in her bathing-suit, down the path and straight into the pool. Shay looked back at the man.
“You should check her out,” he said. “She’s on youtube.”
“I think someone—”
“Daddy?” another woman, middle- aged, stuck her head out the door, “Do you want grilled cheese or peanut-butter and jelly?”
The man looked at Shay and winked at her. Then he pursed his lips and leaned his head back, thought for a minute. “Peanut-butter, darling.”
He and Shay watched the woman in the pool do two laps under water. Finally, he called out in a loud voice, “Mel?”
Mel popped to the surface and gasped. She waved her whole arm.
The man looked at Shay and then back at Mel. He put one hand over his eyes, “waving or drowning?” he whispered.
“Come watch me,” Mel called, finally.
“Waving,” he whispered. He turned and walked towards the pool.
Shay watched him navigate the slate with his oxygen tank for a minute before calling out, “Well. Bye,” she said, “Thank you.”
“Come back and see the deer sometime,” he shouted without turning, “They’re magnificent.”