A Man Without Limbs

Count your blessings

A Man Without Limbs

 

For nearly a month, I’ve gone back and forth to attend the hearing. Some days, I went alone. Some days, my sister was with me. My sister was not a very patient person when it comes to waiting. She’s always had issues with delayed service. I guess working in Customer Service had that effect on her. I was the opposite. I think I got that from my dad. I am very patient when it is something that concerns me, my career, and my life. We sat there for a few minutes waiting for the representative to show up. As I sat still, she gave me a few of those annoying looks, that seems to be asking me “What time is it?” “What are we waiting for? Christmas?” as she keeps checking the time on her wristwatch. 

Being the entertainer of the family, I tried to talk her out of boredom, hoping she stays with me for the whole process. 

 

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, a few minutes more and it was time for lunch. Hunger is something that I can never talk out to people. I can only go as far as keeping someone occupied and entertained with my corny jokes and stories but to try that with someone who is famished, is a battle you are bound to lose. So, we got on our feet and headed for lunch. She was too hungry she ate too fast. I know I was hungry, but I was distraught and in despair, I could barely swallow my food. 

 

After lunch, we headed back, but she said she cannot wait for me because she needed to run some errands. We hugged and kissed each other goodbye as I walked her to the cab. I waited for the cab to leave until it was fully out of sight. I let go of a deep sigh, and with heavy steps, I ushered myself back to the prosecutor’s office. He smiles at the first sight of me as he offered me a seat. His face automatically changed as he apologized for the long wait. Wryly, I faked an “It’s all right” I sat for long until I had enough. The lawyer and I agreed to just go ahead and re-schedule it (for the Nth time). I did not feel like commuting. I felt like I was about to explode any time soon and I did not want to cry inside the bus. So patiently, I waited and hailed a cab. As the driver started driving me home, I let myself wallow in desperation. For a moment, my heart and my brain were in sync to flash nothing but all the sadness and the pain I have gone through all my life. Sad memories of my childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The people who let me down, broke my trust, events that made me question the values that were instilled in me. That very moment, I was introduced to misery. Two things, I said. 1. I will forget that everything happened, I’ll get another job, forgive my offenders, and move on. 2. I say thank you and just take away my life and call it quits. 

 

My mind went off to the latter, and then I had a vision of me in a coffin, people talking and crying. In one corner I saw my parents, mourning and inconsolable. I pinched myself to snap back to reality and set my mind off that morbid thought. I said that if I should do it, I should at least say goodbye and do it in a non-ostentatious manner. 

 

Suddenly, we were stuck in a traffic jam. Drying my eyes and trying to make my mind wander off, I saw a man without limbs. Under the scorching heat of the sun, he maneuvers from one vehicle to another, as he offers them goodies and ice-cold drinks. The sight of him took me to deep remorse. I felt sick to my stomach, chiding myself. “How dare you chicken out of life? When this man right here, A man without limbs, fights his battle every day, unafraid of the killer bus and made a choice to be alive and try to survive?!” 

 

Yes, he was an eye-opener. That man without limbs, he was the Highway King. My hats off to him.

Author's Note

Comments and Suggestions are always welcome for improvement :) Peace! ✌️