The world shaper

Anna Smoulder  sat on a chair and nervously wriggled her legs. She wore fashionable pantyhose with checkered pattern that only emphasized the beauty of her legs. Her gentle face began to express concern. Her deep black eyes searched the wall clock which was mounted on the opposite wall. The clock hands seemed to be moving with the incredible speed and can’t be stopped. She shrugged and again looked at the watch. It was way past 5:00 PM.

What shall she tell Simon? He will be furious and she would be apologizing to him, because he would be waiting for his supper again.

Her eyes again wondered to the watch, but she be became even more concerned. She couldn’t manage to focus and to listen to older lady on the opposite side of the counter. The woman tried to explain why she didn’t bring her savings book with her.

“I was hurrying to get on a bus, that I forgot… and the coffee with the neighbor… so I haven’t got my savings book with me.”

Her voice was trembling and she was obviously ashamed. In most cases Anna would take her time and explain to the woman she would be glad to help, but without savings book there is nothing that can be done. Instead she just monotonously said:

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. You can come again tomorrow.”

The moment she said those words she was sorry for being so rude. She always tried not to give people the feeling of inferiority. She tried to be positive and that usually worked, because she had gentle and peaceful nature and she had feeling for dealing with people.

 “B…b…but…”.

The old lady couldn’t hide her disappointment. She figured out she would accomplish nothing, so she got up and went to the exit with the bowed head.

Ana went behind her and waited for her to get through the door. In between doors the woman slowly turned to Anna and wanted to say something, but when she spotted Anna’s nervous look she changed her mind. She just shook her head and left. Anna locked the door behind her and turned over the sign which now indicated “closed”.

She went back to her chair and grabbed her purse. She went down the hall to the employers exit with the top speed that was possible due to her high heels shoes.

She looked across the bank once again to check that everything is in order. When she was reassured she punched in the alarm code. She knew she has only a couple seconds left before the alarm arms so she slammed the door with all of her strength. It usually opened with the loud bang and when she stepped through the door swung with the squeaking sound, but this time it was different.

The door opened fully and loud bang indicated that it hit some sort of an obstacle. The  painful oooooooh, that was heard right after that, made it clear it that it hit somebody. She stepped through the door which now soundlessly closed behind her. She locked it with one quick move and then she turned around. She spotted an old man lying on the floor. He was groaning quietly. He had short and completely white beard. He had longer silvery hair, that was covered with old fashioned dark grey hat that was trimmed with black ribbon. His clothes were fairly plain and he seemed clean and tidy.

“Oh my god, what have I done? Mister, are you all right?”

Her tight dress hardly allowed her to kneel beside him. He slowly lifted his head and gazed at her in confusion. There was blood on his face coming from a wound on his forehead. She instinctively reached in her purse and pulled out a pack of handkerchiefs. She had troubles pulling out a handkerchief from a pack, because her hands wouldn’t stop trembling. She removed the old man’s hat and placed it on a pavement beside the old man.  She carefully pushed his thick hair that was all over his face to the side. He looked at her with the mixture of gratitude and admiration. She slowly wiped the blood from his face.

“I think it would be best if I took you to the doctor,” she murmured more to herself as she did to him.

She helped him to his feet, but he stumbled and collapsed back to the pavement. That even increased her feeling of guilt and by then she completely forgot about her annoying husband waiting for her at home. She helped the old man to sit upright with his back leaned on the wall. Her current goal was to get the old man to the hospital. All the rest was at the moment irrelevant. She thought for a while and then said:

“Wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded fearfully as he would be scared that she won’t be back. But the moment he looked at her eyes, he noticed the guilt, sadness and also a strong determination. He didn’t say a word, he just silently watched how she was walking away.

She drove her car to the place, where she had left the old man. The man was still helplessly resting leaned on the wall. She got out of the car and approached the man:

“I’ll try to get you to the car.”

He nodded and leaned on her while she was trying as hard as she could to lift him up. With her last strength she managed to pull him to his feet and kept him from falling back. They were moving slowly, step by step.

“I just need to open the door and we are done.”

She had to be careful when she opened the door than the old man wouldn’t slip to the floor. She helped him to sit, reached across him and buckled his seatbelt. She thought it was like caring for a child, except this one was approximately ten times heavier.

Before she sat in the car she looked at the sky. The sun was setting in the distance and the soft autumn wind blew. She was a bit cold. It was late and a part of her being reminded her of Simon that was waiting for her. She quickly got rid of these thoughts, since she had other concerns to with.