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| THE IMAGE OF ME Robert H. Gilbert, Jr. 20 MARCH, 1994 |
| Tonight was Wednesday night. The night of the week that my wife has her avon party with the women from the neighborhood. I stop here at the pub every Wednesday, where I eat and have a few beers waiting for the women to go home. The pub is only about 6 blocks from the house. I can not see myself sitting there watching them smell different perfumes, and try different shades of lipsticks and eye makeup. As I finished my meal and drinking my second beer, I noticed a man just a few years older than me come in the pub. I was not a young man myself. I noticed that his clothes were filthy, not just dirty! His hair was down in his eyes, his face had not seen a razor in months. His hands were not much cleaner. |
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| Sure enough, he came over to my table, licked his lips and asked if I would buy him a beer. he slid onto the bench not even waiting for a yes or no. I motioned for the waitress to bring him a glass of beer. He hollered at the waitress telling her to make it a double. He just nodded his thanks, and it was gone in two gulps. I wondered how much this was going to cost me. About 10 beers later, he started talking and sobbing. Wiping his eyes with a napkin and using his sleeve to wipe his nose. We all need someone to talk to, (but why me?) He started telling me how he had been where I was now. He said by the suit and tie I was wearing, I must be an executive of some sort. He pointed to his jacket and pants saying they use to be a suit some time ago. |
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| He had been married to a beautiful woman, two lovely children, a nice home that was paid for and a good job. There was nothing money could not buy that he would not have gotten them, no matter what the price. When he got off work, he would stop at a place like this, have a few beers, (maybe 2, or 3), then he would go home and be late for supper. The next night, the same thing. Finally, it got to be all night. When he decided to go home, there was no home anymore. He put his key in the door, but it would not open. He knocked on the door, she opened it and told him he was not needed there anymore. She told him to go back to the bar, his beer, and his friends. But, there were no friends, no job either. |
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