Have A Little Heart

Business has been slow the past few days, so I put an ad in the Sun. It paid off today. Whilst sitting at my favourite local watering hole I got a call to head down to the south end of town. I made it there by 11pm and was pleased when the attractive young man opened the door. He was nervous and invited me in. I made idle chat about his day and the weather and whatnot while I checked in with the agency and counted my ‘donation’. I always use this time to suss the situation out. There was a note on the kitchen counter that read: Thanks, I miss you. There was a poker table deconstructed and leaning against the wall in the kitchen, and the bathroom wasn’t especially dirty, but it wasn’t especially clean either. It was clear that there was a woman, but there is no longer. He was in his early 30’s, somewhat attractive, but in a misfit sort of way, smiled and laughed at all the right times and was very polite. When we reached his bedroom, he had a dresser, night tables, but the mattress was on the floor. And all the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Recently divorced. My eyes glanced to his ironing board set up, and sure enough, there was a book; A Guide Through Your Divorce. I realised that’s what was off about him. He wasn’t nervous, or maybe he was, but he was heart broken. You could see it when you looked at him. I felt bad for him. I didn’t like seeing the hurt in his eyes. I tried to make our time together special. He had a tattoo across his hip bown that said Try to change. I won't say change isn't good, but I wonder if he is being true to himself. I can't help but think what happened to inspire him to perminantly mark that on himself. Afterwards we laid in bed and talked about our travels until my phone rang. It was really nice though. He asked me why I got into this line of work. It’s funny, I didn’t realise this until I got in my car, but in my early days this was my most common question. But he was the first person to ask me in quite a while.

He told me that the band that we were listening to was playing in a bar downtown two nights next week. I’m debating whether or not to go. I really enjoyed the music, but it would be inappropriate. I think that’s why I want to go I’ve never run into a client in my off time before. I have no idea how it would go down. I’m sure it would be different for everyone, but would they say hi? Would they ignore me? Would I recognise them? What if I was with a friend. As usual, when I see a bridge, it seems I have to cross it…