The Way Station

by

Michael F. McCarthy

He had been here before. The first time was when there was a solar eclipse. The next time was a year later. Each time he had been sent home with a set of exercises to be performed to prevent his return to the way station. As time passed the urgency to do these exercises waned and they would cease to be done, and he would pay another visit to the way station, and another regiment of workouts would be prescribed to ward off the long-term effects of being 90 plus years old. This time it was different.

As he did with previous stays, he made good progress toward walking distances with his walker. About two months on in his stay, the way station concluded that his development had plateaued and he could not be released safely to go home. He needed to be transferred to another way station.

One day while he waited to be transferred to the new way station reflected on his life. It seemed to him that of all life was one big way station waiting to go from one state to another. It occurred to him that his house that he had lived in for fourteen years was a way station too. After his wife died, a gay couple rented the upstairs of his house while they searched for a home of their own to buy.

A second gay couple moved into his house after the first couple purchased a home. He became fast friends with them. These individuals had issues. The homeowner was a good-hearted person. Very early in their stay began to give his housemates $300 each a week to help them get by. About 6 years ago he decided to leave them his house when he crossed over to the final state. It was evident to everyone that he could not have stayed in the house for so long without the couple being there to assist him.

The couple took the news that he would not be returning to his home hard. They were genuinely fond of him. Only when the couple learned that they were going to be expected to take over the household expenses did they freak out. He had been paying the house expenditures all along in addition to giving them a weekly allowance of $300 a week each. The couple’s (one was a full-time student and the other was a substitute teacher) income is not sufficient to start paying the house expenditures at the first of the month when he goes to the new way station.

After a bit of ruminating on the situation, he began to question his wisdom. The couple had not progressed as far as he hoped. Was it wise to give them the $300 weekly allowance? Had it made them too dependent on him? Perhaps, he thought. He wondered why they didn’t they see this situation coming? He had.

He felt lucky that he would be around to see how the couple would handle the situation that was fast approaching in four days. If things had gone according to his original plan he would have passed on into the final state that we all pass into. He was indeed lucky!