FRIENDSHIP
Quote: It is great to have friends when one is young, but indeed it is still more so, when you are getting old. When we are young, friends are, like everything else, a matter of course. In the old days we know what it means to have them. - Edward Grieg Unquote
To look at him you would think he was a pauper. When you got to know him he was really a prince. Everyday he would walk, actually shuffle, his way down to the stockbroker's office to visit his friends and watch his investments. Every afternoon at about two o'clock, Billy would walk through the door and bring a smile to our faces. His cap was always on crooked, and he always worn his worn and torn overcoat regardless of the temperature, with a scarf in the winter and a buttoned up shirt in the summer, and always a smile (crooked teeth and all). He was our unofficial leader, our spokesperson. If Billy said it was so, then it was so! We were a handful of guys getting together everyday to watch the stock ticker and wait for Billy's daily words of wisdom. With his cockney accent and his reassuring wink, he seemed to make everything seem okay no matter how the market was doing or how gloomy things seemed in the real world. Then one day, everything wasn't all right. Our Billy, our 80-year-old pal, our leader had cancer! (sob..sob..sob)
It didn't seem to matter anymore tha this investments would go unwatched. What was important was that we watched Billy. He was going fast. The only family he had was an older sister in England so we became his family. A few of us took, turns sitting with him in the hospital. Garry, who was Billy's friend and financial advisor, took the lead watch. Garry was there almost all the time. We didn't want Billy to be alone.
One evening, we knew the end was near. I offered to spend the night and sit with Garry and Billy, but Garry said to go home and that I could relieve him in the morning.
About 5.00 a.m. my wife and I were awakened by a loud knock on our front door. I got up to see who it was, and no one was there. At 9.00 a.m. Garry called to say that Billy had passed away during the night. "What time did he say good-bye?" I asked.
"5.00 a.m." was his shocking reply. The only explanation we had for the knock on our door at 5.00 a.m. was that Billy had "winked" good-bye for one last time!
To look at him you would think he was a pauper. When you got to know him he was really a prince. Everyday he would walk, actually shuffle, his way down to the stockbroker's office to visit his friends and watch his investments. Every afternoon at about two o'clock, Billy would walk through the door and bring a smile to our faces. His cap was always on crooked, and he always worn his worn and torn overcoat regardless of the temperature, with a scarf in the winter and a buttoned up shirt in the summer, and always a smile (crooked teeth and all). He was our unofficial leader, our spokesperson. If Billy said it was so, then it was so! We were a handful of guys getting together everyday to watch the stock ticker and wait for Billy's daily words of wisdom. With his cockney accent and his reassuring wink, he seemed to make everything seem okay no matter how the market was doing or how gloomy things seemed in the real world. Then one day, everything wasn't all right. Our Billy, our 80-year-old pal, our leader had cancer! (sob..sob..sob)
It didn't seem to matter anymore tha this investments would go unwatched. What was important was that we watched Billy. He was going fast. The only family he had was an older sister in England so we became his family. A few of us took, turns sitting with him in the hospital. Garry, who was Billy's friend and financial advisor, took the lead watch. Garry was there almost all the time. We didn't want Billy to be alone.
One evening, we knew the end was near. I offered to spend the night and sit with Garry and Billy, but Garry said to go home and that I could relieve him in the morning.
About 5.00 a.m. my wife and I were awakened by a loud knock on our front door. I got up to see who it was, and no one was there. At 9.00 a.m. Garry called to say that Billy had passed away during the night. "What time did he say good-bye?" I asked.
"5.00 a.m." was his shocking reply. The only explanation we had for the knock on our door at 5.00 a.m. was that Billy had "winked" good-bye for one last time!
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