GIVING AND RECEIVING

Fred

Giving can also have a big impact on the receiver as well as the giver.

Warm notes of store-bought coffee wrapped around Fred as he lumbered through the fourth floor of his work. He resisted the vending machine, saving his money for lunch. As he was walking, he heard the sound of sniffling. He walked for a bit more and found a woman sitting on the floor outside an office and crying.
"Hey, are you all right?" he asked her tenderly.
"Yes, thank you," she sniffled, "I'm fine."
He bent his knees down to come face to face with her.
"Are you sure?"
She began to sob again. "No. I've just lost someone very close to me."
Fred didn't know what to say, but he managed to get out, "I'm very sorry. Parent? Sibling? Friend?"
"She was like a sister to me. We'd known each other since we were three."
Fred sat down next to her. "What's your name?" he asked politely.
She lifted her eyes to meet his. They were as green as grass in spring. "Joanne," she whispered, "I'm Joanne."
What a pretty name, he thought to himself.
He moved his hand across the rough carpet to touch hers. She looked at their hands, then back at him. They stared at each other for a while. Not lost in thought staring, but passionate staring. Then, she suddenly snapped back from her love trance and said, "I've got to get back to work. Sorry for keeping you."
"Oh, it's no bother. I really didn't want to do work anyway," he laughed.
She laughed too... sort of. They both stood up awkwardly and smiled at each other.
"Well...I suppose I'll see ya...round," Fred spoke.
"Yeah, I suppose I will," replied Joanne.
As he began to walk off, she called after him, "By the way, you never told me your name."
He paused for a moment, still dazzled by her dazzling eyes.
"Oh. Fred. That's my name."
"That's cute," she mentioned. With that she turned and walked off, drying her tears with her black jacket sleeve.
Later that day, Fred was in his office, droning though the same routine as always when suddenly, a familiar face appeared in his window.
"Hello again!" said Joanne.
"H-hi," he hesitantly mumbled, "What can I do for you?"
"Well, Helen said that I need to come to you for this," she explained as she revealed a stack of paper stapled together. She handed it to him smiling.
He looked at it and said to her, "Yep, you've come to the right man for the job!"
They both laughed at his humorous comment.
"I'll go then," she remarked immediately before she turned on her heel and walked away.
Fred looked at the stack of paper again and realised there was a bright pink sticky note attached to the bottom right hand corner. On it was scribbled numbers with a love heart underneath.
"YES!" shouted the over-excited man from his tiny office space before quickly covering his mouth and standing to apologise.
Later, after a long day, Fred finally had the courage to text Joanne. He stated, "I promise I'll come tonight. See ya!"
Soon, the cloudy blue sky became stained with black and splattered with stars.
Joanne arrived at the restaurant looking reasonable, she thought. She looked around anxiously for her date, but found no sign of him.
Not wanting to stand at the entrance blocking everyone's way, she sat down at the reserved table.
On the table across from her, the was a big group talking loudly. Joanne heard one of them talking about a young lady who had just married a young man. When photos were exchanged, Joanne caught sight of a certain wedding picture, the bride and groom. She didn't recognise the bride, but she did recognise Fred.
The next morning, Fred walked into his office and found his new wife sitting in his chair.
"Honey! What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came here to drop off this to you," she said as she held up a large paper envelope and put it on his desk.
"But I was approached by a woman who told me that you invited her to go on a date yesterday."
His face turned white.
"Eliza, let me explain. She just lost someone very close to her and it was just dinner!"
"Except you forgot to turn up."
Fred spun around to come face to face with Joanne.
"Jo, I'm so sorry," he said as he reached out his hands and touched her folded arms.
"Don't touch me!" she cried, "And don't call me Jo. That is only for my friends."
"But you gave me your number first!"
She looked at the floor and spoke, "Because you had to call me for work, not passion."
With that, she stormed off, stifling a tear.
Eliza stood up and began to walk away too.
"What's in the envelope?" he asked.
"Let's just say that it will explain a lot."
When all the drama had settled, Fred opened the envelope. Inside were about three ultrasounds of Eliza. Attached to the first one was a pink sticky note saying, "These are for you, Dad."