Esme
"I kept on denying Lucia, my daughter, about the camp she wanted to go to with her friends. I dropped her off at school and left for work. Just as I crossed the neighbourhood, I got an uber request from Mr Jacobs.
Mr Jacobs was a well known elderly for his generosity. I heard that he spent half of his only pension on old age homes. The money wasn't much, but he always gave his best. Apart from his kindness, Mr Jacobs wasn't all friendly. I have never seen him talk with other people, nor even smile once. Before a few weeks, no one really saw him outside his home. Nowadays he uber for a ride to take him to a street about 5km from his house. Other than that, he spends his days in silence.
I drove towards his block and there, Mr Jacobs was waiting for his ride outside his house.
He looked sharp, still not a smile on his face. He got in the car and made sure he wasn't blocking the view for the rearview mirror. Everyone knew Mr Jacobs didn't want to talk during his ride, a silent ride was mandatory for him. So far, everything was good.
Not 10 minutes passed when my daughter called me. I attended her call on speakers as I was driving. Lucia couldn't stop asking me if she could go to the summer getaway camp. I kept on rejecting her camp idea and then hung up the call.
All of a sudden in a flow, I spoke to Mr Jacobs about the camp. Realising I just talked to Mr Jacobs, I went quiet. Truth be told, I was scared; one reason was cut on tips which I needed but the other was losing fare from my wage as being an Uber driver, wages aren't that much. But I was surprised when Mr Jacobs started talking to me. It wasn't what he was.
He introduced himself as Rowan Jacobs.
He started telling me about his life a bit. At first, I wondered why he was telling me all this and if it even was related to summer camp, then I just listened to him.
Mr Jacobs was a trainee during the Vietnam war. Right, when they started the training, the war was called off and he called himself lucky for that. He went back to his hometown, back to his life with his mother. He married his childhood love, who passed away a year back which gave him a reason to stay in all the time. They didn't have a child, making him alone all this time.
I loved listening to him talk and somewhere in the middle, I gave Lucia, permission for the camp. I didn't even realise when we reached the destination. I pulled over the car and saw him leaving in silence. As he got out of the car, he told me that sometimes people are fortunate and that he was a fortunate person although sometimes not so lucky.
After exchanging a smile, he went inside the building. Then it struck me, I was dropping him off at the cancer centre.", I looked at my dad after reading one of his diaries out loud to him in his deathbed.
I asked my dad, why he wanted me to read out this page of all other.
'Lucia, I don't know why but it just touched me so much that he shared those things with me and I know it will always stick with me. I wish I stayed with him because I don't think anyone was with him for his treatment. Well, now gone are the days and years, but the memory is stuck with me alone but now you.', he said, 'Now keep quiet, I am gonna take a nap.'
I exited his room in silence.
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