APOLOGIES
By wrc
During Summer Vacation while in High School, I once had a job as a Morning Cook. Before opening, I liked to get a cup of coffee and sit on the Boardwalk in Laguna Beach, California, and watch the Pacific Ocean surf roll in. Once I finished the coffee I'd unlock the restaurant and open up for business.
Then there was that morning which changed my life.
As I sat on the Boardwalk, two young children were playing near the surf. They were being chased by something in the water. There were no adults around and the Sun wasn't up yet so the light was flat without shadows.
I became fascinated by what was in the water. It looked like a log. I watched it, and eventually I saw a black sock. It looked like a human leg.
I put my coffee cup on the steps of the Boardwalk and walked quickly across the sand toward the kids. The closer I got, the more convinced I was that it was a leg from the hip down.
It floated, and when the surf came in the leg rolled over and over.
I imagined a shark eating a swimmer and leaving nothing behind but the leg. Then I saw a hinge by the knee. It was an artificial leg!
“Where did it come from?” I asked the kids. They both pointed at the Boardwalk. ¨We pulled it down here,” the oldest boy said.
They ran away across the sand toward two adults in the distance.
I figured I´d get it out of the water and leave it on the Boardwalk. If it was lost, then someone would find it.
I managed to snag it out of the surf without getting my shoes wet.
As I made my way across the sand, I studied the leg. Besides the stainless steel hinge at the knee, there was a leather harness where it attached to the thigh. There was also another hinge located at the ankle.
As I got closer to the Boardwalk, I saw a man rolled up in a blanket. He was asleep. There was a lone shoe buried in the sand. His one leg had a shoe on it. He was missing this leg.
I was late to open the restaurant so I planned to leave the leg near him and go to work. I leaned over to place it on the sand when the man sat up and aimed a gun at me.
“Drop it or I´ll kill you,” he said in a gruff voice. “I suppose you think its finders-keepers!”
I dropped it. “I wasn´t taking it, I was returning it.”
I stared down the black hole in the barrel of the gun and saw my life ending. I began running for the steps in the Boardwalk. I forgot the coffee cup and ran to the restaurant.
Martha, a High School student, was the Waitress. There were a couple of early regulars standing around.
“Where have you been?” Martha asked.
“Jesus! I was almost shot! There´s a guy with a gun sleeping under the Boardwalk.”
“Maybe you should call the Cops,” one of the regulars suggested.
I wasn´t sure what I should do. If someone took my artificial leg I´d want to shoot them, too. “I think I´m going to forget it.”
When I began cooking, I had dropsy’s and couldn´t keep the orders straight. I couldn´t stop thinking about the end of my life and I was becoming angry.
After an hour, the man from the Boardwalk came in and sat at the counter. He ordered Apple pie and coffee. He stared at me through the serving window, then signaled me out front.
“I´m sorry,” he said. “I talked those kid´s parents and you were telling the truth. I´m terribly sorry. I want to apologize. I almost shot you.”
Again, I felt all that fear of dying. “To hell with you. You can go **** yourself!” I snarled. I went in the back and began getting ready for lunch.
I thought about his apology and thought that he didn´t have to come and apologize. I changed my mind about a simple mistake by him and decided to apologize for my words.
When I went back out front, he was gone.
Outside, he was a block away. I watched as he threw his artificial leg in front, and then stepped up with his good leg.
I thought of his gun. I saw the blackness of eternity in the barrel and realized I would forever be changed. I now knew that one day I would die.
I looked at him in the distance and decided I would not apologize. He could have killed me. To hell with him. He had taken something very valuable from me. To hell with him.
I went back to work.
end
copyright © 2015 by wrc
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