Margaret

He and his wife were down to one vehicle. His car was having some work done today so he had his wife's truck. Which meant he had to pick up his wife from work at the nursing home she worked as a certified nurses aid.

His wife called to tell him to pick her up an hour later than normal. One of the residents on her hall passed away today. His wife said her name was Margaret.

His wife was great at her job. She found it easy to gain the trust of her residents without letting herself get to close to any of them to cause detriment to her job.

He knew she'd still take Margaret's death hard. She always did when it came to the death of a resident. He supposed anyone would in that career.

On his way to pick her up he realized he was going to have to console her with words on the drive back home. He wasn't good with this sort of thing. He could give her a hug; nuzzle her close. He would go to the ends of the earth to make her smile and giggle. It wasn't hard. She loved his sense of humor.

But consoling her with words was entirely different. He was always a bit nervous that he would say something idiotic. Or that something he said would be taken differently than he intended. The last thing he wanted was to make his wife cry harder than he knew she already would.

He pulled the truck into the parking lot of the nursing home. As he slowly drove up to the door he saw her waiting for him. As she climbed up into the truck she didn't say a word. Before fastening her belt she put her head back against the seat, put her hands over her face, and let out a long sigh.

He knew this was his cue to say something.

"Sorry about Margaret," he said.

Reviews

[Great Aunt Astri]

A very human write! My only criticism is you begin too many paragraphs with a 'He, His, His, He, He, He,and He
It might read better, if you could somehow change it round. But that is just my opinion.
I enjoyed it>

[Marie]

Good story. I like the way he thought about this and thought about it, and finally said something he probably didn't want to say at all...