FREE FLYING HEARTS -- A collection of short stories from Tonig73

The Park Bench Chronicles ... 6

Well .... nothing much to report, or to say really.  Life has been going on about it's merry business all around me, the shop is busy, my lovely girls are still just as lovely.  Man, they work hard, we all do.

I've been worried about Laurent, and Larry too.  What a mess !  They both have demons to slay, and it seems to be a hard fight, for both of them.  I haven't seen them for a bit, and I'm worried to say the least.  Laurent was so angry, and just so hurt, I could tell.  He told me Cassie had helped him get cleaned up, and got some really good drugs on board too.  She gave him some advice too, just as I did, but I know I have no sway in his life, and I don't expect to either, it's just coming from a place of love.  I'm just a shop girl, with a lovely shop, and a staff that I love dearly.  But, I love these guys too, and I care about them.  I revel in their happiness, and, before all this shit went sideways, it seemed they were both on their way to being happy too, especially Larry.  He so deserves to be happy, and he has had so much to overcome, to put behind him, and I know Laurent has been instrumental in helping him do that.  That's why I'm praying, that even after that night, they can work it out.  

I still don't believe for one minute that Larry could do what Laurent believes he did.  Not for one second.  It's not in him.  I could see Laurent's icy exterior thawing a little when he first saw Larry under that bridge, and God, that just about broke my heart too.  When Larry told me that's where he used to go, just to get away from his everyday hell, I didn't believe how bad it could get for him either.  I hope he gets help with his drinking, if indeed, he needs it.  I don't really believe he's an alcoholic either, he doesn't seem to drink constantly.  It doesn't seem to be a driving force in his life.  Maybe, hopefully, it's just a pressure valve.  And we all need those from time to time.

I left Laurent some of his favourite gelato with the concierge at his apartment building.  I knew he had to be working from home for a while, because of his injuries, he couldn't just roll up to court looking like one of his clients, now, could he ?  And I know he didn't want Elise to see him like that, poor baby.  I received a huge bunch of beautiful pink roses, a hand written note, and a very generous gift card for Pamplemousse, my favourite restaurant.  How did he know ?  Larry says he knows everything, and that, I don't doubt.  All I need now for my fancy dinner in a fancy restaurant, is a date.

A while ago, I saw a workman in the park, looking at Larry's bench for a while.  He scrutinized it, walked around it, frowned at it, squinted at it, then shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  He came back a few minutes later, tool box in hand, appeared to attach something to the back of the seat, then left.  'Course, being the nosy cow I am, Laurent's words, as well as my own, I had to go and take a look.  There was a small, shiny new bronze plaque screwed to the back of the seat.  It said simply, Larry's Bench.  Immortalized forever, as he should be.  I didn't need to guess who had arranged to have that put there.  My God, these two. 

The shop had been quiet, the weather not great, so the park was quiet too.  I've had more requests for overnight sleepers to use the doorway, as it's colder and wet sometimes at night.  I told them, as long as they don't leave any mess, and are gone by the time I get to work, yes, of course they can.  I immediately thought of Larry, and how he used to sleep there too, sometimes, and whaddya know, the eyebolls got all leaky again just thinking about it.  I thought about how life never seems to be fair, that shit doesn't care who it attaches itself to, whose life it ruins.  That it always the people who deserve it the least, that get more crap to deal with.  And that those who spit in life's eye, seem to get the least.  Or, maybe, they just deal with it differently.  Welcome that shit into their lives, challenge it, giving it a run for it's money. 

I felt the need to go and sit with Larry on his bench, and converse with him, in absentia.  I told him how I was rooting for him, and Lau.  Not just for them to be together, but just .... I wanted them both to have a happy life, whether it was with one another, or not.  That they deserved it.  That I was a firm believer in Karma and her wonderful, equal opportunity, non discriminatory, payback system.  Rich, poor, black, white, purple or pink, it didn't matter to her.