One of my co-workers is an eighty year old Aussie, who I've come to respect greatly for his thoughts and experiences. There was one in particular that I wanted to share. This is my effort to recreate it.
“What are you thinking Charlie?”
He looked up at me through his glasses, his eyes glittering with the sadness of nearly a century of life, and a small smile caught at the corner of his mouth beneath his grey little moustache.
“Let me tell you a story, son.”
I nodded in acquiescence and tried to make myself as comfortable as I could against the counter.
“When I was a young man, just married, I was poor. Real poor. We lived in Sydney at the time. (I believe it was around 1940.) It was a tough life, with not much work to go round.”
“One night, it was particularly cold. In those days, about the only place you could go to stay warm was to the train station, for the station was a simply huge building, with lots of room for whoever wanted to be there. However, I had no way to get my family there. So I flagged down a cab, and begged him to take us to the station. He was a kind hearted fellow, his name was Avery, and I've never forgotten his name in all my years. He kindly agreed to take me and my family to the station.”
“After a few minutes, he looked at me and asked me why I'd want to go to the station in this weather. I explained that it was for the warmth. He was silent for a moment. Then he turned to me, and said he had a quick errand to run before he would be able to drop us off.”
“I was fine with that, after all, he was being kind enough to take us to the station for free. So the cab pulled up in front of one of the most beautiful hotels in Sydney. The driver got out of the cab, explained that he would be back in a minute, and left.”
“It was a few minutes more before he returned with a middle aged lady. He opened the door of the cab, and pulled me out of the car, then got out my family, and directed us all inside.”
“One night, it was particularly cold. In those days, about the only place you could go to stay warm was to the train station, for the station was a simply huge building, with lots of room for whoever wanted to be there. However, I had no way to get my family there. So I flagged down a cab, and begged him to take us to the station. He was a kind hearted fellow, his name was Avery, and I've never forgotten his name in all my years. He kindly agreed to take me and my family to the station.”
“After a few minutes, he looked at me and asked me why I'd want to go to the station in this weather. I explained that it was for the warmth. He was silent for a moment. Then he turned to me, and said he had a quick errand to run before he would be able to drop us off.”
“I was fine with that, after all, he was being kind enough to take us to the station for free. So the cab pulled up in front of one of the most beautiful hotels in Sydney. The driver got out of the cab, explained that he would be back in a minute, and left.”
“It was a few minutes more before he returned with a middle aged lady. He opened the door of the cab, and pulled me out of the car, then got out my family, and directed us all inside.”
At this point the old man got slightly teary.
“He had gone and talked to the Salvation Army people, and together they had gone and rented a room at the hotel. So it ended up that me and my family slept in a bed that night.”
Charlie looked up at me.
“And ever since then, son, whenever I see a Sally Ann collecting donations, I always give whatever I've got. Cause they did for me what no one else ever did, they showed us kindness.”
And he turned to look back out the window.
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Layne, thanks for posting that. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeletewow. what a story. now I really want to meet Charlie.
ReplyDeleteWow, I love when older people tell me stories. They blow my mind. Where do you work?
ReplyDelete