Clearly Rusty and Worn by Allen Henriquez

Part III

Agnes Peters a middle-aged housekeeper for Abner Yost had a dedication to giving her best effort whether: appreciated, rewarded, acknowledged, or not.  Agnes a church goer on Sunday and with respect to all the other six, became a live-in worker for her employer, Abner Yost, after her husband died of a heart attack one year ago, her Jerome Peters, was only forty-nine.  But with the end not revealed, time is a priceless commodity, and for Agnes time spent helping others had value.  Abner Yost, decimated by his wife’s sudden departure, needed Agnes’ help now desperately.

The sickness of spirit that fell Abner was pulling him down deeper each day to where Agnes needed help to bring him out of it.  He had been a successful real estate agent until the country’s economy crashed, then like everyone else he began to struggle financially.  Colleen Wadhurst, forty-seven, an attractive, but very self-absorbed person, became extremely hostile with her husband when the cash flow collapsed.  Colleen then began to live out a rather mysterious day-to-day routine with little logical accountability for her comings and goings, until one day she left, and needed no return explanation.  The nothingness of her unending absence was in itself a detailed discourse.

But Abner, with no friends, and Agnes unable to get him to seek medical assistance, left her only choice being the former rival of Abner’s, Rusty Michaels, to try and bring him to his senses.

Rusty, who was married to Colleen ten years earlier, used to come by the house to speak to Colleen after the break up and the divorce.  He was always calm and respectful, but still in need of some type of interaction with her until one day he stopped coming.  Before that time he would knock on the door, speak to Colleen briefly, then leave.  He never entered the house or looked inside until this day, when he came to help Agnes, help Abner.

“You know you should get some sun or something.  This Dracula look with the stubble is really hideous,” Rusty advises Abner.

“Why not rest your retinas and get back on the sandy trail to your place, you know, like now,” Abner replies while still pacing the floor in an effort to alter the flow of grief’s sudden and more intense attack.

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To be continued. . .