The Fly ©

July 19 2018 is a day I will never forget.

That is the day, “Buddy”, one of my best friends had asked me to drive him to the hospital for a routine heart valve repair.

I still remember the smile on his face as the nurse led him away.

I drove his partner home where she was to wait until the next day to find out how it all went.

I have known Buddy for over 18 years through my brothers computer store as he was a frequent customer.

He was terrible with computers.

I mean he used to get every virus out there and a couple I am sure just mutated on his computer through some vile digital orgy.

Then my brother closed down and went on to some other field to make money leaving Buddy out in the cold.

Until he rang my doorbell one day desperately seeking computer help.

I knew he was a nice guy so I showed him in and looked at his big heavy desktop computer.

Am I happy they are GONE.?

YESSSS!!!!

So I looked it over while rubbing A535 on my arm and realized his was crawling with viruses so I kept it for the night and the next day gave it back to him and told him no charge.

He balked at that but he was talking to the door as I had shut it and gone back in to smoke a joint.

That evening I mentioned this to my brother and he told me he would be back and I could make a lot of money off of the old man because he always screwed up his computer.

A couple of days later, he was back at my door carrying HAL.

Same problem as the last time.

I fixed it and dang if he wasn’t back.

Same problem over and over again.

I stopped charging him.

I mean, there was nothing really wrong with the computer.

It was him I had to fix.

He used to download anything that said free on it and with all that came the viruses.

After I got him to stop downloading shit I took him out to buy a new lighter computer and a virus protector.

I set him up so well I KNEW I wasn’t going to see him again, at least not for a LONG time, and I was right, sort of.

A month went by and one day the doorbell rang, he was standing there smiling back at me.

That’s something I got to tell you about Buddy, he smiled all the time.

He was a quiet man.

Soft spoken with a dry sense of humour, well over 6 feet tall.

I look around for a computer but there was nothing but a case of beer.

He said he had gone to the beer store for some beer for himself and bought me one and then left.

Just like that.

Poof, gone.

I don’t want you to think he is weird in any peculiar way or even  eccentric.

He was a nice person all the way to the core.

He had a PHD in engineering and worked for years in the States before moving back here to work for the government.

He was a very smart man, just not with computers.

His grandfather was a missionary in the Far East for 30 years and his father a paster all of his adult life so he had a deep sense of religion.

So much so that he spent the last 20 years as a pastoral volunteer.

He was also an EMT volunteering 50 years of his life to the ski patrol.

Makes me wonder WTF I have done.

Two days later his partner called and I was excited and asked if he was ready to come home?

She tells me there were complications and things had taken a turn for the worse…..

To be continued…..

Walker