Written by Aaron LaLux
His publications on Amazon
Really,
it was the way he fell that caught my eye,
as if the years of strain,
from the weight on his shoulders,
that lead to his legs giving out,
was meticulously planned,
a sort of intentional accident,
either way I came to his aid,
prepared to be of assistance,
I rushed to his side,
kneeling where his gently trembling body lay,
“Sir, sir!”
“Are you okay?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Can I help you?”
As if questions can actually solve problems.
Sometimes someone in need,
doesn’t need questions,
they just need,
someone to be there unquestioningly.
The old man said nothing,
he just shifted his distant gaze,
from looking across the concrete,
where his head lay horizontally,
to looking distantly at me,
with the sort of innocent wisdom,
and fearful calm,
of a helpless giant who knows his day has come,
as the aged lines etched in his skin,
altered their patterns slightly,
with each rise fall of his face,
for a few seconds neither of us spoke,
we existed in suspended animation,
held hostage by moment,
me a young man in his prime ascending,
him an old man in his last days descending,
his hand reached out from below he’s belly,
under the side from which he lay on,
I reached out with mine and grabbed it,
there is nothing more human than holding hands,
sometimes,
we don’t need a compliment,
or a drink or a joke,
or a million dollars or anything at all,
sometimes,
we just need to know,
that someone is there,
to acknowledge our existence,
sometimes,
we just need,
a mutual moment,
of being,
he was certainly dying,
he didn’t need to say so,
and I was unfamiliar with death,
so I wasn’t sure what I should do,
I didn’t want to leave him to call for help,
for I didn’t want him to die alone in my absence,
so I just stayed there kneeled beside him,
clutching his cooling hand in mine,
a Bellhop ran over,
dressed to the nines,
apparently we were in front of a hotel,
and luckily it was a nice enough hotel to care,
such a blessing that some can afford to be treated humanely,
such a curse that others don’t have enough to be respected,
such an irony that the more money you have the more you are heard,
such a tragedy that when it’s all said and done of this matters,
“Sir is this your father?”
“I will call for an ambulance right away.”
“Just stay there help is on the way.”
“Right away sure.”
The uncomfortable words of uncertain assurance,
do not effect the moment of me and the old man,
I wasn’t even sure the man heard the Bellhop,
I wasn’t even sure if had he would have cared,
and just as I thought it was all over,
a smartly dressed man about my age,
exited the golden gilded double doors,
of the trendy metropolitan hotel,
his dress as sharp as his demeanor,
his looks as sharp as his swagger,
he didn’t seem phased at all whatsoever,
by the scene still he came over to see what was the matter,
and then to my shock,
the smartly dressed man spoke,
“Dad, what’s up?”,
Still the old man didn’t respond,
he simply continued to die,
even though apparently,
the old man’s son had arrived,
the young man seemed to take offense to this,
as the sound of the ambulances neared,
and sort of shrugged off his father’s condition,
as if he was upset with his father that he was passing,
as if any of us have a choice,
as if we can delay Death when he knocks,
as if even the strongest man in the world,
has a chance in the ring with Death,
the ambulances arrived,
masked men in uniform began to gather around,
this startled the old man who suddenly decided to rise,
as if through some magical force that he’d found,
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”,
the old man said,
attempting to calm everyone down,
and get the ambulance to away,
the son seemed pleased by this,
and turned to me and spoke,
“He man thanks for helping my dad,
he gets like this sometimes.
Let me take you out,
as a way os saying thanks.”
It all happened rather abruptly,
but I agreed to the young man’s offer,
so I let go of the old man’s hand,
and began to walk with the younger man,
as soon as we started to walk away,
the old man fell again,
but his son seemed to just ignore it,
without any further interest in his father,
so with the old man behind us,
we walked down that city street,
and he introduced himself,
without even missing a beat,
“I’m Paradon,
but my stage name is Paragon,
I’m in the city,
because I’m on tour with Drake.”,
I’d actually heard of the young man’s name before,
and I’d met Drake before as well,
how can a world of 7 billion,
seem so small it’d fit in a shell,
oh well,
we walked for awhile and really hit it off,
we had lunch at a classy cafe,
it was getting late and he invited me to a party,
at the largest estate in the city,
I agreed and we decided to meet again,
just after the sun went down,
Paradon paid the bill I said thanks,
and he shook his head and said,
“No thank you,
thanks for taking care of my father,
I’m just so busy with tour,
and it was a relief to see some do it,
someone who genuinely cares,
someone to be there with him in his last moments,
he was always such a selfish man,
and it was good for him to finally learn how to share a moment.
PART 2:
On the walk back to the hotel,
at sunset to meet Paradon,
I walked by a jailhouse,
one as large as most of the other buildings,
I guess the bigger the city the bigger the jail,
anyways,
there seemed to be lots of sick people outside of the jail,
and one of them spat on my back as I walked by,
while another one introduced himself,
“Hey man,
I just got out and I’ve got no place to go,
I’d love to roll with you,
if that’s cool.”,
I thought why not,
he seemed clean enough,
plus everyone deserves a good time,
when they get out,
so we walked together,
another few blocks,
where we met Paradon,
outside of his luxurious hotel,
Paradon paid no attention to the new man,
and we all walked to a massive building,
with gigantic tinted glass windows,
and a huge intricately carved wooden door,
Paradon knocked,
and the door was quickly opened by a door man,
Paradon showed him the enveloped invitation,
and the door man welcomed us in,
the party was small,
for being in such a large space,
only a dozen or so people there,
but it’s quality not quantity or so they say,
anyways,
I awkwardly asked for a bathroom,
so I could wash up,
I still had spit on my back from the police station,
and I really needed to wash it off,
I was lead away from the crowed by the host,
a beautiful woman a few years older than me,
she was gracious as she was good looking,
enclosed in a flowing gown of shimmering red silk,
even the way she walked was mesmerizing,
so much so I’d forget where she was leading me,
up a flight of wide stairs,
and to a bathroom equipped with extravagant features,
“Anything else I can get for you?”,
she asked as the host that she was,
“Um, uh, no, this is really great,
I truly appreciate it,
I’m just going to take a quick shower,
and then I’ll be right back out.”,
I closed the door,
and proceeded to take,
the most amazing shower I’ve ever had,
in my entire life,
when finished,
I realized how clean I now was,
and how undesirable the dirty street clothes were,
and how I refused to put them back on,
so I took one of the thick cotton bathrobes,
that hung on the wall,
flung it on my shoulders,
and wrapped it’s belt around my waist,