The light man

 I'm back.   The light man

He was known around town as the light man. Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, he'd show up in town driving a rickety old truck loaded with strands of lights and other holiday figures, all looking like new. The older townsfolk told stories about how a long time ago, he lost his wife after returning from the war and finding their house abandoned. People said she couldn't take the loneliness, and she ran off with a traveling salesman, but one thing was sure: she was gone for good.

He lost more than his wife; he also lost his will to go on, and the spark he once felt was all but snuffed out. He made his way by doing odd jobs around town, and twenty-five years ago, he got the contract to hang the holiday lights throughout the town square. There were also a couple of dozen figures he placed around, keeping them high and out of reach of the snowball-yeilding troublemakers.

As years passed, things didn't change much until they did. At one town meeting, it was decided that the lights should no longer be hung. More advanced methods of decorating the square were put into place, requiring the knowledge of technology that the light man didn't possess, so with an envelope containing his final check and a bonus of one hundred dollars, the light man walked out into the night.

On December eleventh, the townsfolk gathered in the square to see the new lights turned on with much fanfare. The mayor was chosen to throw the switch, but when he did, nothing happened. The mayor laughed nervously and tried again, but the tech wiz admitted he didn't know what was wrong. The people walked away, and the light man sprang into action. He worked well into the night, hanging lights in the square and placing the holiday figures exactly where he'd hung them for all these years. As people slept, he finished his job. When the sun went down and holiday shoppers filled the street, he plugged the lights in, and the town square lit up to the joy of everyone around.

For the next ten years, the light man kept his job to the delight of everyone who knew him, and on one winter's night, a single bulb blew out, and the light man passed quietly into the night, surrounded by his lights and his friends.

Mike 2025