Before You

Those of you who missed the final chapters group for UY, email for those.

I am surviving Fay!


CHAPTER FOUR

Roth consulted with Sadie about doing more at the shelter. His first visit, while marked with personal issues, had acted as a revelation. He wanted to take the time he spent trying to fill empty hours, and donate it to help those unable to help themselves.

She finished their conversation with, “We could really use you, Doctor Garrett.”

A few days had passed since he’d last crossed paths with Adam. Although he hated the fact his heart had, after so long, made a wrong choice, he didn’t intend to tuck tail and vanish. Roth glanced at his watch. “Didn’t you say you had to have your son at piano lessons by seven?”

She whipped up her wrist. “Shit! Thanks. Gotta run!” She hadn’t taken a dozen steps when she halted and about-faced. “I hate to ask, but I was supposed to go by the shelter on my way and take some donated supplies. You headed there this evening?”

Roth had intended to try getting some sleep. “Yeah,” he lied. “Where’re you parked? I’ll meet you.”

He finished his shift, drove to the shelter through unpleasant, late rush hour Savannah traffic. Parking in the back, he set the alarm, gathered up the bags and walked to the staff entrance. It required a moment to recall the code the head admin gave him.

Roth had the door half open, fighting his burdens while trying to clear the threshold, when another man arrived.

“Here, Doctor Garrett, allow me.”

Before he even saw the guy’s face, he replied, “I hear that all the time. Call me ‘Roth’.” Entering, he looked back to the fellow who’d helped him, he suffered an emotional response. The young man’s left eye had become permanently lost and closed under some traumatic old injury, while his right shone bright brown and beautiful.

Lowering his head and voice, the stranger said, “I couldn’t.”

Roth set everything down, closed the distance between them and caught the younger man’s jaw in his hands. Urging his face up, Roth replied, “You look at me, and you call me by my given name. Now, tell me yours.”

“Joseph.”

“Capital, Joseph. You look sturdy. Help me carry all this stuff.”


Joseph proved himself intelligent and knowledgeable about all workings of the shelter. Roth appreciated that in his endeavor to play catch-up. He sent his new right-hand man to the kitchen with a large donation of dried spices and herbs, while he visited the infirmary. As he put away an assortment of gauze dressings, tape and sealed syringes, a too familiar and dreaded voice spoke.

“Might want to take off that Patek Philippe Anniversary Aquanaut.”

For a moment, Roth couldn’t even process what Adam meant. Then, he looked down at his watch as he continued sorting and organizing. “For someone who looks down their fine nose at luxury, you sure know it.”

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Adam’s unearthly musical voice mocked.

Roth glanced over his shoulder to see Adam adding a few sanitarily wrapped rolls of gauze to his carry kit. Baited just enough to respond, Roth countered, “You must stay surrounded.”

He joined Joseph in the kitchen, finding out his new friend had ideas concerning making better meals for less cost a person. Roth listened, addressed the head cook, and said, “I think the man has great ideas. You willing to give him a chance?”

That head cook, a part-time teacher and full-time mom smiled. “My name’s Patty. And, he’s my new best friend.”

Roth considered himself the new guy. He accepted grunt work since no medical situations presented themselves at the time. And, he liked it. Time passed. He felt useful.

“Roth?”

His head snapped up from the kind of blind attention he applied to mopping the men’s locker room. “Yeah, Joseph?”

“I can finish this job before I leave.”

Roth smiled. “I finish what I start. But, thanks for the offer. See you tomorrow evening?” He hoped so.

Joseph nodded. “Sure.”

Returning his effort to the task, Roth completed his mopping, propped open the door with an appropriate warning sign to ward off accidents and invite drying air flow. Then, he cleaned and put away the equipment, washed up to his elbows, and decided to make a pass through to see if anyone needed help before he departed.

His last stop, the private room for elderly with their minds intact, had become a fast favorite, if a heartbreaker. He slipped into the dim room just as the bathroom door opened and Adam emerged with a frail little woman in his arms.

“Young man,” she said in a crepe paper voice, “you’re too young and virile to be taking care of old ladies.”

In a warm, gentle tone that caused Roth’s heart to flip, Adam answered, “It’s my privilege, Miss Fay.” Ferrying his slight burden to her bed, he bent, placed her carefully, and drew the covers over the elderly lady. “Last night we left off with you telling me about your Eddie asking you to marry him before he shipped to the invasion on D-Day.”

The woman’s voice became wistful. “Yes. He drove us to a place by the sea.”

Adam supplied, “He told you he would get a ring as soon as he got home.”

She sighed. “Yes. I recall that now.”

Roth held his breath, watching Adam in the low light. For long moments, he sat holding ‘Miss Fay’s’ hand. As he placed it upon the mattress and stood, a distinctly Southern black female voice whispered, “Son, you might get her to Heaven. But, you gonna burn in hell for the lies you’ve gotten that woman to believe.”

Adam’s soft chuckle almost took Roth off at the knees. The elusive man leaned low and kissed noisily over the woman who had last addressed him. “Miz Lizzie, we can’t all be smart as you.”

In silhouette, Roth witnessed the second woman grabbing him. “That’s a natural fact, boy. Go home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Roth slipped away, heart thumping and anger building. He strode to the men’s locker room to check the floor. Finding it dry, he removed the warning sign that propped open the door. He walked to the closet, put it away and heard the locker room door open.

The sound of stifled sobs caused Roth to freeze momentarily. The sounds ceased. He leaned around the corner. To his complete shock, Adam knelt on the tile floor, face in his hands.

Roth battled his initial instinct. He felt compelled to challenge the other man. Instead, he leaned back into the shadowed corner.