Final Hours

“Are you sure about this, Tim? You sure that you shouldn't...ya know, stay home for this ?”

“ No,no, Bucky” replied Old Man Tim Marker. “ I want to look more around the city and ...Oh I don’t know, Buck, I just want to have a feel of nostalgia once I go”.

Bucky stares down on his coffee with a saddened face. “ Well, good luck getting there. Drink’s on me”.

“ No need”, Tim drinks his tea, and coughs a little. He checks his watch. “It’s about time. Goodbye, old friend.”

“Goodbye”.

Tim picks up his cane and exits the coffee shop near his house. He takes one good final look at both the shop and house and proceeds to the nearest bus stop that takes him to Lake Merrit. He usually walks around the lake at 10 AM, but today is special and that is why he is walking at 7 in the morning.

As Tim gets off the bus stop near the Main Library, he proceeds down to Lake Merrit. Just taking a step there bring so much memories to Tim. He remembers helping the residents around here with carnivals and cleaning as a kid. He remembers always helping old ladies cross the street, reading in the same library, hanging out with friends, and even getting married at age of 20.

Ten years later after the marriage,Tim was drafted into the military during the near end of the Vietnam War. His thoughts were interrupted when a ball hit softly on the leg. He looks down and picks up this pink rubber ball. A boy standing on the hill that had the FairyLand sign stares upon him. “ Is this yours?” ask Tim. The boy replies  with a nod. Tim tosses it back, but instead of walking away, the boy stayed and stared at Tim. Tim needed to take a break and so he finds the nearest bench and sat there. The boy sat next to him. Tim asks“ What are you doing, young man? Shouldn’t you go back to play with your friends?”.

“I don’t have any friend, I was playing wall ball by myself. In fact, I never had friends”, the boy replies with a sulken face.

“Why don’t you have any friends?”.

“ I don’t know, I just get picked on a lot for my height and size”.

Tim looked at the boy and said ”Well, can I  be your friend?”

“Really?”

“Really. Would you like to hear a story?” Tim asked

“Yes please” the boy responded eagerly.

Tim began tell a story about the Vietnam War. He explains how remembers bombs, bullets, and planes all come crashing down on him and his squadron. And there they were rescuing hostage and returning home safely. The boy was fascinated by his story. Tim looked at the boy’s face and he sees one of his sons. Unfortunately, none of his children will ever listen to his tales like that, ever, they all left him. It was time to go, Tim must proceed. He said goodbye to the boy and when the boy asks if they will ever meet again Tim gave a smile trying to hide his guilty feelings for leaving that boy. Tim walks on.

Tim finally finished his walk around the lake. He was sweating, but most importantly he was coughing . Coughing blood. He didn’t have much time. He wiped the blood off of his mouth and looks around. Tim notices something. There was this car, a  blue Toyota Camry. He could’ve swore he saw that car numerous times today. After a while, he gave a small smirk. He had nothing to worry about apparently.

Tim moves on to his next destination : Dimond Park. He walks to the nearest bus stop with an available. He waited 10 minutes and finally got a bus. Took a 15 minute drive and got a station near Dimond Park. He proceeds to walk there. He passes the Dimond library, Safeway, and a few houses. As he walked he kept having to pick up trash and cigar buds all over the road. He thinks that this city has gotten even more dirty than he remembered in his old days. Those houses brings back a lot of memories because they housed Tim’s friends, but now they’re all dead. Once he reaches the entrance of Dimond park, he walks around looking for something, praying they did not remove it. And there he finds it next to the swimming pool and basketball court: a bench. He walks to the bench, notices that there is some water droplets and wipes it off a tissue. As soon as he sat down, he began to cough violently. An African American man notices him and approaches.

“ sir, are you okay?”, the African American asks. Tim responds” I am fine, thank you , young fellow”. Coughs. “ But do not worry about me, just carry on your business”.

“ Are you sure ? “ the African American asks with deep concern in his voice.

“ Yes, go, please”

The man proceeds on with his business.

Finally, some loneliness. But this was a little more different than usual.Tim’s current family state is that he has no family, they all left him. About 8 years ago  his youngest sons joined the military, but was killed in action in Afghanistan. His second son got married and never came back to visit him once and has gone silence for a long time. His eldest son owns a company and lives near Tim in Oakland, but again, never visits. His only daughter is a professor at Harvard. His wife may be the love of Tim’s life, but is not immortal. About 4 years ago, his wife had a sudden heart attack. When she was taken to the hospital, it was too late. And there she dies, holding Tim’s hand in the ambulance,  right when they were about to enter the hospital . None of the children showed up for the funeral.

Tim now will soon join her, as he has been diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago . It is now at stage three. It was too late for help, and Tim didn’t want any. The reason he chose to sat on this bench is because this bench is the one that he and his wife will always sit on during date, picnics, and the times to mourn.

It’s quite ironic. All his life he try teaching his kids the value of  family, and yet none of them seems to come and visit him nor come to visit their dead mother still . He sees little kids biking with their parents, playing football and with their dog, and doing all these crazy activities. But he knows no matter how much you think family and friends is precious, they will all leave you, it’s just the matter of times and memories.

Tim rests his back on the bench and sees in the distance the same Toyota Camry parking. His conscious began to fade. Right before he passed out he felt a light tap to his right,hearing his wife’s younger voice. And there he died. The person came out of the Camry, and that person is the eldest son, here to pick up Tim’s body. Not saying a word.