AN ANGEL TO BE

I was at the end of the rope...
For 4 years I had been trying to make a living a a Tilesetter. It had become a slow torture; I would make 1000 dollars one week, only to spend the next 3 weeks trying to find more work. Twice I had been to the very edge, ready to go to the Apartment office to tell them to start the eviction proceedings. This last time, I had actually been to the Office, and an hour later a knock at the door brought me more work and prolonged the torture another six months.

With no money and no work, a vehicle on its last gasp, no where to go, any favors from friends having been depleted long ago....it doesn't speak well for me...so lets just get to Arnold shall we?

Arnold is a lifelong friend of Sparky, the mother of XMrs B.Holes. He had an empty trailer. His no good son had moved out of it and it was available to me if I needed some place to go. They said the Trailer was in bad shape. I had no where else to go.
I took the first load of stuff over. It was uninhabitable.
I had no where else to go.
At 3;00 A.M. a few nights later I took the last load over.There was Ice on the roads and it was cold.
I wept.

Arnold had been injured in his teens and was blind. He was raised on a farm. They had a lot of Dairy cows and as a boy he milked them every morning. He says the hardest part to milking a cow is keeping it milked.
He said he picked a lot of Cotton too. He told me all about what that is like, what it does to your fingers and back, how thirsty you get, and how little it paid. I met his mother, she turned 101 last year, and her story was a little different. She said that the only cotton Arnold ever picked was what falls off around the big hoppers they put it in!
Arnold still maintains that he picked a lot of cotton.
When he was a young man he left home and was able to work and take care of himself. The Lighthouse provided both lodging and employment.
Arnold met Mary and they got married. She was the daughter of the local Pharmacist, and they had become friends as Mary would fill Arnold's prescriptions. I asked Arnold how and when he knew that he loved her not being able to see her and all.
"I just got to a point where I wanted to be around her all the time, and she always smelled so good. She seemed like an Angel to me "
Arnolds vision was at about 80% when he was younger, but declined slowly over the years.
They lived in a small town just outside Fort Worth and at some point the town needed a Garbage Truck and an Engineer. Mary drove the truck and Arnold loaded the truck. Not only was the pay pretty good, but this way they could be together all the time. I think this is very Romantic!
Arnold is pretty amazing-the things that he can do are astounding. I have seen him drive nails with a hammer, remove and replace the Radiator on a Car, and he actually worked as a Plumber for years.
He has 2 sons, my age, that are never around unless they are unemployed and need a place to stay, or they have just stopped by to steal something. Apparently they aren't too shy about stealing, and Televisions have disappeared while he was in the bathroom.
Mary died about 15 years ago.
Into the night, an Angel to be.
He said that he had been eating an awful lot of Bologna and Hot Dogs ever since then, and as much as he liked them he sure did enjoy my cooking. My Beans and Hot Water CornBread were especially prized.

For almost a year and a half I stayed at Arnolds. I didn't work much, part of me didn't care if I ever worked again or not. I enjoyed Arnolds company as much a anyone I have ever known. I can think of no one, my kids included, I would rather cook for.

I'm not sure that there is anyone in this world I am as thankful for as Arnold.

(to be continued)