A Dark Winter Night

CHAPTER X: Dominic's Story - Farewell of a Comrade

"And he really was your best friend, Sir?" I asked as he ended his testimony.

"Oh yes, he was. I think he was the only true one I have ever had" He replied with a dreamy smile. It is one of those smiles that I think that I have only seen in a lifetime. A smile of true friendship and companionship, how I longed and yearned for one!

Out of curiosity, I asked to myself on how this warm and welcoming man could have no other friend beside the boy mentioned earlier? "Sir? Why don't you have any other friends besides him, considering the fact that you are very sociable?".

At these words, his glowing countenance changed drastically into a gloomy and dark one. I felt a surge of guilt in the temples of my conscience, why did I have to ask the question? But he suddenly spoke:

"Sonny, it is one of the greatest ironies and mysteries of life. People who work hard to make others happy are the ones who usually end being the saddest one. This harsh reality was reflected and personified in me and Joneddy. He did his very best to lighten and brighten up everyone he met, but he was always ridiculed and resented because of his personality of being religious. While for me, I was a nobody, to put it quite bluntly, I was a wallflower and did not socialize very well.

They were all quite so different from me; but when I met Joneddy, he made me realize that I was not so different after all. We had fun while making flower crowns for the Blessed Virgin Mary, even if other boys would tease us. We enjoyed watering the plants at the garden back at the Church Convent, we had a very good friendship. The best one I ever had."

From a worrisome frown, Dominic's face brightened up. Both joy and sorrow intertwined, both longing for a friend and reminiscing memories of goodness knows where.

"Sonny, you don't mind me adding another story, right?" he asked me hopefully

I looked at the clock automatically, it was 11:48, my stomach ached with fear and anxiety because I haven't yet brought home food. But this kind man's heart was quite inviting, his kindness of permitting me to eat with him can only be repaid with me remaining for a few more minutes, so I forcefully agreed. He went on saying:

After Secondary School, he moved to a very prestigious college in North Carolina, he was a government-sponsored scholar. He said that he might no longer come back and just live there. I could remember the bittersweet farewell we had. It was on March 27, 1895 a cold rainy morning, I woke up very much wearily and with tired eyelids worn from my crying the past night, the winds were blowing ice cold breezes as I uttered words of farewell to my friend, in fact the only I had ever had. He was at our front porch with tons of bag, he was wearing a resolved and serene smile, the last smile I had seen from him.

As he replied to me "Goodbye Dom, God will have us meet someday, maybe not tomorrow, next month or the next year but someday" I ran to embrace him, with tears streaming from my eyes, after a while.

He let go and soon he turned his back and walked on. I could still vividly remember the worn out jacket he was wearing, the brown leather shoes that was muddy from the puddles of water that which where he stood and most of all, the stained and untidy rosary beads that he wore on his neck that I gave him once. He turned his back slowly and walked towards the road and until I saw him no more. I was left there with awe and serene longing as I looked up the grim and dim clouds on the zenith's melancholic touch on my heart.

I closed my eyes in anguish and pain, crying and regretting that if only I had met Joneddy earlier then my life would be much better now. Maybe I wouldn't be much a sinful man. And after that, as my memory could still endure, I could remember nothing more. It all seemed a dreary hallucination or a serene nightmare that I wanted to escape from."

He finished with a sorrowful strain within his eyes, he looked at me and asked me why I am still walking on the streets on this kind of hour. His question then forcefully turned me back to reality, as I hurriedly gulped spoonfuls of my already cold soup.

I right away replied "Thank you for reminding me Mister. But I realize that I must be on my way now to our house. Thanks also for the soup and for your story" I did not mean to be rude but I forgot to even include even a bit of advice to him.

He replied "Alright sonny, you seem to be nice man. So I wanna' include a little about this kitchen, this was once where he lived after he came back from college. Where he met the lady she would one day marry" at those words, questions plagued my mind.

"Didn't he wanted to be a priest? Why did he marry anyway? But those were not yet my priority. I quickly bade farewell to Dominic, I grabbed the packed soup and bread, as I scurried past the rusty chairs and to the old and rugged wooden door. I opened it, and all the freezing winds came back to me again. I forcefully shut it as I stepped on the icy and slippery brick path. I swiftly walked holding tight myself to shield my frail body from winter's wrath.

The questions still troubling my mind, on why did Joneddy marry? Didn't he wanted to become a priest? Maybe he was a hypocrite? But all were naught compared to the gurgling stomach I had as I held the already cold soup. It was all that I ever had and to me, it was already the most delicious food in the world. 

I hope I can even survive this Night.