Chapter One
1083 Words
"Hey, Mr. Frederick. "Having a good day?" Lucas asked the old man sitting on cardboard paper spread on the ground. He raised his head to stare at Lucas and beaned widely. Frederick looked like a regular homeless man. Lucas always dropped off food for him every evening when he was getting back from work. He took him for a trim anytime his hair and beard were getting too bushy. Mr. Frederick paid his dues in words of advice and dad jokes that cracked Lucas up every time because of how unfunny it was.
"Hey Lucas. Of course, I am having a good day. Here you are, serving me some chicken and mashed potatoes. "It is the best thing I could ask for," he said, expressing his gratitude as his eyes twinkled at Lucas. Lucas shrugged it off.
"Oh Mr. Frederick. "This is nothing. "I wish I could do more. "Take you out of this place, for example," he said, his eyes roaming around the little alley Frederick shared with small rats, who were always away searching for tasty trash to bring back to their home.
"Lucas, I could never choose to be a burden on you like that. I’m tryna be an independent man, doesn't it look good on me?" he said with a laugh, raising his frail arms to display how well independence fit him as it was custom-made. Lucas laughed along with him and changed his blankets. He had changed his torn blanket for two better blankets. When one seemed to be dirty, he switched for the second.
"Really. "Thank you, Lucas. "You are on to greater things. "I promise you," Frederick said with a sense of certainty and assurance that Lucas wondered if he had taken his name or picture to a psychic.
"I hope so. Right now, I am just trying to get by the day with my rent paid, bills cleared and my favorite TV show."
Frederick nodded slowly and began to mutter to himself. That was Lucas' sign that it was time for him to leave. He packed up his stuff and stood to leave. Frederick raised his head.
"Tell Neil if he does not watch out, he might get herpes before the year runs out. I have not seen as many ladies as Neil has brought into that little apartment of yours."
Lucas guffawed at this statement.
"Frederick, you said you would not be snooping into our apartment."
"I was not snooping. I was right here when you and Neil paid for a house right across my little nest. I told you about the windows, but someone decided he could not spend a day without looking at the view."
"Frederick, you have a lot of words this morning. I can not help but wonder why. Was it the sweet potato pie? Or the latte?"
Frederick smiled widely at that. He took a sip of water from the bottles Lucas had brought the weekend before.
"You treat me so well."
"Yet, you refuse to accept my invitation to join in the condo whenever you want."
"I want to be here for the final day."
He always spoke about the final day and Lucas thought he was talking about his death. He always went quiet when he spoke about death like that.
"Uhm, I should get going now. "Have a lovely night, Frederick," he said and walked away and into his little condo that cost too much for a windowless kitchen.
He found Neil sitting on their couch, with another woman who was different from the blondie who came in the day before. The blondie had looked like she had bit eaten in years. Neil had never had a preference for women. As long as they came with the women's parts.
"Neil." He never liked strange people in his space. Neil did not care, he had once hosted a party in their cramped living room. They had to take the party outside when one of the party members started hyperventilating.
"Hey Lucas. "I did not think you were coming in so early. "Meet the love of my life, my amor, Lucia." He said, with his usual introductory line. Lucas slapped on a warm smile.
"So you are the beautiful lady he could not stop talking about. “It is nice to finally put a face to the name. "My name is Lucas." He offered her a hand. She smiled shyly, and her cheeks gave a rosy hue.
“Nice to meet you, Lucas. Unfortunately, Neil has told me nothing about you.”
“That's a shame”, Lucas said.
Neil nodded approvingly to Lucas, who only rolled his eyes. She laid back on the couch and curled closer to Neil. He excused himself and went into their room. He needed to change out from his work clothes that smelt of sweat and grease. He was about to go into the bathroom when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He tried to ignore it. He had felt that kind of pain several times over the past couple of months. He was now used to it. But, this time it was different.
It felt like a bulldozer was running miles into his intestines. He clutched his stomach and tried to swallow the pain. It was too much to bear. He fell slowly to his knees and tried to hold himself from yelling out loud. He passed out on the bathroom floor with a thud.
Neil didn't notice until an hour later, when Lucas didn't come down for a snack like he always did. And when he called Lucas’ name a few times with only silence in return, he poked his head into the room to find his friend sprawled on the floor, unconscious. He ran towards him and tried to lift him off the floor.
"Lucia! Lucia! "Please, come help me!" he yelled as he struggled to carry Lucas out of the house. Lucia ran into the room and placed Lucas' free arm around her shoulder. They took him to the couch and waited while Neil called an Uber. The Uber came in a short time and drove quickly to the nearest hospital.
Neil tried to narrate what had happened to a nurse, but he kept stuttering. A stretcher was provided, and a doctor approached, her voice steady and reassuring.
“We’ll take it from here. I’ll run some tests and let you know what we find. Try to stay calm. I'm sure he'll be fine.”
- Writer
