Lamentation for Dave

ca. August, 2007

Met a young man in Raley's today, couldn't have been older than thirty-three, his head was sunk deep into a cereal box. I knew something was wrong but I wasn't quite sure if he was crazy or just 'fuckin around. I asked him, "Are you alright?"

To which he replied a muffled response with his head still behind the boxes, "Yeah...I'm just 'havin a moment [sic]..."

I said, "Oh yeah, we all get like that from time to time," as I began to walk off. Then, for some reason, I added, "You know, this last year has been rough (for me)."

He pulled his head out and looked up at me, eyes red with slowly drying tears; I noticed he was slightly bald, a thin build, wore a striped shirt, and had a bit of a hipster edge to him. He said, "Really?" walking towards me slightly.

"Yeah."

He replied, "What was it?" Or something to that effect.

"My friend passed away...He was killed in a car crash...A big rig flipped on top of him. And then, I got sick at work."

He asked, "What happened?"

"My lungs, I breathed in all this crap from the building."

"Where did it come from?"

"It was an old building and when they cleaned it released all kinds of dust and mold and shit into the air. Now I'm on workman's comp and I want to sue them but I don't have a lawyer."

"You have to figure a way of getting one--talking to one and getting them to know what happened--that's important."

"Yeah," I said...

"And you...what happened to you?"

"Oh," he said, full of tears and emotion, "My wife left me a few months ago...it's hard...sometimes I just break down."

I said, "Yeah, I see," trying to console. "That's rough. We all get like that sometimes. We gotta'...push ourselves through it somehow."

"Yeah."

"What's your name?"

"Dave," he said. "And yours?"

"Sam," I said. "Well, Dave, you try and take care. Keep 'strivin--that's all we can do sometimes."

"Yeah. You too, Sam."

"Good luck," I said.

"You too."

We gave daps and departed our ways.

As I stepped out of the market, with my slim carton of milk and Orbit chewing gum, I saw him by the Wine cartons. Or the oats and natural cereals.

I think he saw me as I walked out...I'm almost certain he saw me.