Saturday, August 15, 2009

I will never forget...
the evening of August fourteenth as the night that I met Dennis. The day had been a blur of normalcy. Since noon, I had been working in my small performance theatre semi effectively, and at myself as well, downing coffee in an attempt to conjure up enough energy to make the day exceptional. Several hours and grumpy spells later, I still had failed. It was only through various complaints of my acrimonious mood did I even begin to get over myself by the second act. It was then, around ten that evening, that a man walked in. I had barely glanced up from my laptop, as there were three female employees working for me at the front desk to address whatever benign needs he may have had. On top of that, he was on a cell phone- a small annoyance I felt justified my inattention. Yet phone still to ear, he ignored the three attendants entirely and came to the back of the lobby, directly in front of me.
He ended the call as I turned to him and said
“Hi. How long have you been working here?”
A question of credibility, since this was an old institution. I suppressed the small stir of ego inside me and answered.
“Three years. How can I help you?”
Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a small stack of single dollar bills, and handed it to me.
Reluctant and confused, I reached out slowly to accept as he explained himself.
“Two years ago, I was suffering from a drug addiction. I came in here and you, I think it was you- do any other employees have dreadlocks?”
“No...” I said.
“So it was you. You loaned me five dollars, and I wanted to pay it back.”
I was flabbergasted. Silence would have been much better than the stammering that followed.
“I...but...that’s...”
I was too overcome with emotion to properly express my gratitude. He simply said
“God can do anything. He can do whatever he wants.” And began to walk away.
“Wait.” I called out, walked to him, and shook his hand.
“Thank you.” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Dennis.” he replied, and then left.

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