Best friends

     The morning came too soon as he lay in bed figuring out what he would do to occupy his time? He cleaned the small trailer he lived in yesterday, it didn't take very long no matter how slow he went. The day before he went food shopping where again he took his time going up and down each isle although he only really came for a few items. Last night he finished reading a book he had found on a park bench. It captured his attention as it was a story of the high seas adventure. He debated taking a sleeping pill as he only did so when sleep just wouldn’t come. This night he believed it would.

     When he was a younger man he was up before the alarm, now that clock sits in a closed dresser drawer because he didn’t ever have to get up early anymore. Now on whatever day of the week it was, he laid there trying to motivate himself to face the day, to accomplish something, anything but this never-ending loneliness he lived with. He heard a soft whimpering coming from the kitchen that got him up and moving even if only to let his old and faithful friend outside to do his morning business. The two of them were getting long in the tooth, but neither of them would admit to who would go first?

Standing at the kitchen sink filling the coffee pot he gazed out of the small window watching his old friend try to find that perfect spot that usually took a while, he figured his smeller wasn’t what it once was. The smell of perking coffee soon filled the trailer with an aroma he had always loved. He knew standing there waiting for it to finish brewing wouldn’t hurry the process, but he didn’t have anything else to do at that moment. The almost quiet whimpering from the back door told him to let his old friend inside where he would have his breakfast alongside him as he sat at the little table sipping his first cup of the day. After fixing himself a bowl of cocoa crispies, his favorite cereal of all time, he got up from the table and moved the eight feet to his comfortable chair where he fell asleep to the heavy breathing of his faithful friend lying beside him on the cool floor of the small trailer.

     They found both the next day when a neighbor called for a wellness check. He was in his chair, his outstretched arm around the neck of his best friend. They had both passed during the night, but no one really knew who went first? I hope they were sharing the same dream, the one he spoke of sometimes when neighbors spoke to him. They were both young again, running together down a white sand beach him just enjoying the day and his friend chasing birds and fetching sticks. All was good in life and hopefully will continue for all eternity.

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