Continued

and then there was...

Merrick has taken up yoga. He found that the quiet of a darkened studio and all the new shapes he was trying to master had helped in his creative process. He had prepared well for the busy season. His designs had started to bend, they looked more appealing and less rigid. Seeing his remaining works scattered through the store when he took in the next consignment lot, gave him the satisfaction of a year of hard learning. Rewards come in different packages.

Ollie helped him carry in the merchandise some days. The pieces that needed 2 people to make it through the door. One holding the door, one squeezing through. Some months ago, there had almost been a disaster, which would have cost Ollie more than his pride. The toupée was put away forever.

He had been fortunate in having a long term career and now appreciated the benefits of a guaranteed pension. He looked forward to helping his son occasionally, it was nice sometimes to have a break from retirement.

At his farewell event, which he had requested be kept simple, he was applauded for his contribution to decades of students. Ollie had never coveted the limelight, he appreciated the kind words but was relieved when the night was over. His rewards for his long service came at the unexpected meeting with old students. The ones he had “pulled from the brink”, the undesirables, the unlikely and the just plain odd.

For the most part, he was happy. He had a number of books, that he had shelved for this future.

The curly haired girl spent some dramatic months with a man with a white truck and a temper. Big vehicles and short fuses are rarely a good combination. She had been caught up for a while in how wonderful they looked together, sort of like beauty and the beast.

You would think that she had learned something by now, but her barriers were solid and thick, she was not going to give them up easily.

Several times she had picked up her phone to contact Merrick, but each time she knew that he wouldn’t have changed.