Act Of Furtherance

Gagging from the stench he tentatively removed the dressing from the
festering carbuncle on the old man's leg.
Just how long he'd sat here a burning question on his mind.
Fortuitously he had found him, when he arrived unannounced .
He had been unannounced because this was not where he was meant to be.
By going to the wrong address the man he was meant to meet, a syrian refugee
was probably wondering where he was.
Rivulets of sweat dripped off his head. It was bloody hot.

Surveying the old man's surroundings he shuddered, what a mess, piles of
rubbish, uneaten food with cockroaches scurrying here and there.
'My name's Cheps, what's yours?' he asked the old man.
It's Bert young man and thanks for asking.
Looking Bert in the eyes Chep said, 'What's to be done with you?'
Bert replied, "Don't you go worrying about me, i'll be fine.'
'Well I can't leave you here, you'd better come with me.'

Checking the time on his phone Chep thought 'I've still got time to go and meet
Yakov the refugee.'
With one last melancholic look at Bert's front room, he helped him to his feet,
wondering just how long it had been since he'd washed.
'I'm going to visit a man who needs my help, will you come for the ride?' he
asked Bert.
Grinning, the old codger said, 'I'll just check my diary, oh yeah it turns out I'm
free.'
Hobbling after Chep he pulled his front door shut and said 'It's been a while since
I've been outside.'

Chep helped him into the passenger's seat of his small sedan.
Looking over Bert quipped bloody automatic that's not a proper car.
Inwardly cringing Chep thought what on earth am I doing taking him with me.
With help from google maps he found Yakov's address a block away.

Knocking on the front door with Bert hovering behind him Chep was taken
aback when a beautiful woman answered the door.
Stumbling over his words Chep said, "'Sorry I thought Yakov lived here.'
'Yakov? Yes of course he does. I'm Tamara, his wife. Please come inside.'
When a man identifying himself as Yakov appeared, Chep said, For some reason
I thought you lived alone.'
'No,' said Yakov, 'as you can see there's myself, my wife Tamara and our six year
old daughter Nahla.'

They were shown into the front lounge room and Tamara, looking at Bert, said
'You must be hungry? Can I bring you food?'
Bert, who up to now had been silent, said, 'A bickie and a cup of tea wouldn't go
astray thanks missus.'
Chep got straight to the point, 'Yakov on the facebook page you said you need
some help, so here I am. What do you need?'
As he spoke Tamara had returned with a plate of biscuits and cups of tea.
Trailing behind her quite shyly was Nahla, their daughter.

Yakov said 'It's not food or even money we need, you see come next week we are
going to be homeless.The Australian government said we can only stay here for six weeks and then we are on our own.'
Chep frowned and said, 'I'm not quite sure what I can do. You see I live in a one
bedroom flat.To be honest I hadn't thought this through.I've lived a selfish life and thought it time to help someone else. All I can offer is a small amount of cash. I really don't know what to do.'

Bert with biscuit crumbs on his chin said, 'A place to live, I reckon that sounds
like a fair thing.'
So turning to the family he said, 'The answer's simple come and live with me.
My old place is way too big for me. I'm just rattling around and I'd love the
company, mind you it might need a clean.'

So the family moved in with Bert and this group Chep, Bert, Yakov,Tamara and
Nahla that until this day had been strangers became lifelong friends.

 

Andrew Ballard is a 60-year-old living in South Australia 

and only recently started writing flash fiction and free verse poetry.