Well -Part VI

Well Cheryl did come back. She stated that she had gotten a hold of her friend and that she had been detained and was going to “take a rain check.” Which meant that she was available for perhaps some coffee.

We strolled out of the bar and into the Indian Summer weather. Despite it being mid to late October, the evening air was slightly balmy. As we walked, we talked about inane topics such as the weather, preparations for Holloween and forthcoming holiday season. Seems that since she had never really left our hometown she had much more news from that area than I. I asked her how she decided to take up the teaching profession and she replied with “I couldn’t think of anything else that looked possible for me in that area.”

“Did you ever consider leaving Danbury?”

“Hundreds of times but, I could never decide on a direction or destination.”

“I see, have you done much traveling?”

“Not really, I’ve been up and down the east coast on vacations and the like but I don’t make a lot of money so the traveling bug was never really a possibility for me. My folks passed away a few years ago, my brother decided the military was his career so, that sort of left me alone to fend for myself.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be. It’s not as doom and gloom as that last statement made it sound. I’ve got a fair amount of friends, I’m happy.”

“Great.”

We then fell into a silence as we finished our walk and took a seat in the coffee shop. We ordered a couple of lattes and then resumed the talk.

“I came down to the city right out of High School and it certainly was a bit of culture shock. There was the thrill of all the possibilities but, in the first six months, I was mugged twice and my room got broken into. Last week I was rolled in an alley and sustained some broken ribs so… I’m really beginning to think a change of venue might be in order.”

“Geez… Now I’m the one to say I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. In most of those instances, the bad things happened because I have a tendency to do dumb things at the most inopportune times.”

“How so…?”

“Well…”