It was just a lawn.

He was just an old man.

I was sitting next to Amanda at the doctors office. She was there getting a checkup, its a girl thing that they do to make us guys feel guilty for not taking care of ourselves. I was sitting beside her, supporting her, telling her that she was probably going to have to get a shot or have blood drawn. Its best to prepare people for the worst….especially when they are morbidly afraid of even the mention of needles. I was looking through a catalog of soccer jerseys, compiling my wish list of uniforms. My soccer teams puts a decent squad on the field for games, but our old and undersized jerseys make us look like a bit of a joke. I was pretty focused on figuring out a way to use my ’salesmanship’ talents to sell our team to a business as a collection of walking billboards, so please buy our jerseys and we will let you put your logo on our chests. It was a pretty big deal. He shuffled into the room and sat across from Amanda. There were only three of us in the waiting room. He tried to strike up a conversation a couple times, told me his name was Daniel, but I was pretty busy.

He spoke to Amanda a couple times and then conversation died down and he sat there smiling…with a friendly look on his face. He seemed abnormally pale. In walked an even older man and Daniel recognized him. He quickly explained how he had seen the other man’s wife being brought into the hospital and he was really worried about her. It was a fall, broken foot, broken ankle. The pain and concern that news caused Daniel was written on his face. Daniel was asked how he was doing. Fine Fine, now make sure you get your wife one of those great new walkers with wheels on them, you know she is going to want to be active as soon as possible, he answered.

I meant how are you doing? Daniel said that the blood tests were fine and the urinary tests seem to say that things are going ok. Other than that, he asked Daniel? He said that he was as good as could be expected for an old single guy living on an acreage by himself eating food out of a can. I meant about the cancer. Oh,..that…, Daniel looked up and said that the doctor told him it could be 5 months or it could be 5 years but the important thing was that today he felt ok. Daniel said that he has made a habit of coming into town every two days for one meal, then he listed of the last several placed he picked to eat and which days he ate there.

Amanda Barkey?..we got up and went into the back…i sat in a new chair just outside the door. No needles today…well there goes a bunch of wasted palm sweat.

We walked outside, despite a clear slate of health for Amanda, it was a heavy walk to the car. I just felt so bad. We should have talked to him more..he just wanted a friend…we should have done something..we should have invited him for dinner. In Calgary, in 1996, I walked past a yard with overgrown grass on my way to church every Sunday. Every Sunday I thought about that lawn during my entire walk and every Sunday I chickened out. I knew that I was supposed to stop and offer to mow that lawn, but I chose not to and took the easy way out. I have never forgotten about that lawn.

you should go back and ask him, i bravely offered. why don’t you, she said? I walked back into the hospital..he was easy to spot. He was the happy, ultra hip guy talking away on his cell phone in the waiting room. Those pictures of cell phones on the wall with a red line through them be damned.

I waited behind for him to finish his conversation. I was a little nervous. The room was now full of people. I walked over and asked him if i could have his phone number. I’ve asked for phone numbers before..from girls way prettier than him, why was I nervous?

He looked at me and smiled. He beamed. It was much bigger than a smile. He pulled out his very own business card and pointed to the phone number. He said that was his cell number. It said ‘Cell Number’ right next to the number. He was very excited to hand it out. I told him that my wife and I were hoping that he would come over and join us for supper later that week. He stuttered a few times. He told me that its amazing how sometimes people see someone and they just know that they could really use a meal and a friend. He thanked me. I went home and arranged for some more friends to come and meet my new friend Daniel. I phoned him up an told him to come over at 6:30 on Thursday.

Tomorrow is Thursday and I am excited. Tomorrow I get another chance to mow the lawn.

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