Al looks like Woody Hayes in Hayes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hay day. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big and his husky build speaks of muscle replaced by fat. His white hair is buzzed, Marine style, and when he talks he stares right at you.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the right key, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only one I have for the truck,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But you use your clicker instead of the key. The key\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been frozen out. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll show you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We walked to my truck and Al squeezed by my rear view mirror to show me how the key would no longer fit in the lock. He turned to me, kinda trapped by my mirror and the truck next to mine, and told me the recall would replace both the fuel sensor valve and the fuel tank. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The tank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on order and due in any time. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 He also told me he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had a death in the family and that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to call Dan, not him, to check on the repair status.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind my asking, who died?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My wife\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aunt but she was also her godmother. They were very close and … .\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter who it is, at our age ( I figured Al was maybe sixty-five) everyone we lose is like losing family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been on the other side, so it all means something different to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The other side?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had a heart attack and died. Gone on my living room floor. The paramedics revived me, and then I was operated on for seventeen hours at the Mass General.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
“From resuscitation straight to the operating room. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unusual.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They had my heart out here (Al placed his fist on his sternum).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bypasses? I asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Five of them. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare. They did the fifth one on the back side of the heart. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it was flopping around on my chest.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How long ago?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nine years. I was forty-eight.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heart disease must run in the family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My father had seven heart attacks. He died on the operating table at seventy-two.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m surprised he lived that long.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I lost three uncles. One at thirty-six, one at forty two and another at fifty-two. I have heart disease on both sides of my family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And you should have been dead at forty-eight, \u00e2\u20ac\u009d i said.<\/p>\n
Al stopped for a moment and reached into his breast pocket for a pack of Marlboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. He shook one out and lit it. As he exhaled he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And when I was in the hospital they discovered I had leukemia. They gave me two months to live.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That was nine years ago? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re way past your due date.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was one of one hundred people on an experimental drug. Because it was new and untested, I had to pay out-of-pocket for it for the first year and half.Thirty-two hundred a month.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through a lot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My life has been holy hell. I was a prisoner of war in Vietnam at twenty, but I escaped. I walked eighty miles through enemy territory before I found my guys.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We bounced back and forth between his life, which he kept repeating had been holy hell, and when my truck might be ready. I needed it that night, but we both knew it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to be.<\/p>\n
We shook hands and as I walked away Al said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be sure to call Dan. If the gas tank comes in soon, and it should, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have your truck ready late today.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a contractor, Al, I live in a world of shoulds. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean shit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Al, I have one more question. How did you escape? In Vietnam. You had no weapons.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was young, all muscle and mean.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Al paused and looked down. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I snapped the guard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neck.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
******************<\/p>\n
As it fades away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Al looks like Woody Hayes in Hayes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hay day. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big and his husky build speaks of muscle replaced by fat. His white hair is buzzed, Marine style, and when he talks he stares right at you. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the … Continue reading ![\"stonefield_farm_lavender.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/stonefield_farm_lavender.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n(click)<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nThe other end of yesterday’s rainbow.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n