"Hey, Jim. What happened to the stakeout?"

"Rafe and Brown caught Sanchez at his mother's house."

"All right! And hey, no paperwork for you."

"Exactly. Whatcha watching?"

"It's A Wonderful Life."

"Sandburg! Tell me you're not really watching that schmaltzy crap on my television."

"Hey, you were supposed to be on stakeout. Besides, it's the last time they're playing it this year. If I don't see it now, I'll be forced to go out and buy the video."

"Blair..."

"Oh, quit whining. Wait! While you're up, would you grab me a bottle of water?"

"Here you go, buddy. How's the leg?"

"It's not too bad. Now, hush, my part's coming up."

"Your part?"

"Shhh."

*

*

*

"So, how was that your part?"

"That happened to me once."

"What happened to you?"

"The pharmacy thing."

"What?"

"It's not really a big deal or anything. It's just that when I was about six, Naomi was dating this pharmacist. I used to spend a lot of time with him after school while I was waiting for Naomi to get off work. The way Alan tells it, the Christmas season was going great guns and there were two different strains of flu going around so he was swamped."

"Go on."

"He said he was losing his mind because his assistant called in sick, so he was doing most of the work himself. He says I was singing to myself and that he kept yelling at me to be quiet, but that I wasn't listening to him."

"What were you singing?"

"Blue is for Buelah and green is for Gladys."

"So?"

"You see, I once asked him how he remembered who got what medications."

"I thought that was what prescriptions were for."

"Well, they are, Jim. But I was six and he was playing with me. He told me he remembered the color scheme."

"I think I'm missing the point of this story."

"It's just that he got to listening to what I was singing and realized he messed up the medications. He had mixed up Gladys' for Buelah's. He was able to stop Gladys before she left the store. He always told me I was his own personal Clarence because he had a sudden flash of what his life would have been like if I hadn't have been singing that song. Naomi was the one who made the connection to this movie. I didn't get it for the longest time because George was the one who saved the pharmacist, not Clarence."

"So you were his own personal angel?"

"Yeah. In fact, he still calls me that."

"Wasn't he the one who sent you the angel card this year?"

"Yes. He sends me one every year."

"That's a nice story, Sandburg."

"Well, I rather like it. "

*

*

*

"I find it hard to believe that the absence of one man could have such a resounding effect on the people around him."

"Jim, man. Of all people, how can you even say that?"

"How can I not? You're sitting here, practically in traction, because of me. If I wasn't in the picture, you'd be..."

"Homeless."

"What? What are you talking about?"

*

"Sandburg?"

"Jim, whether I knew you or not, my apartment would have been blown to smithereens. In all likelihood, I would have been hurt and Larry probably would have been killed. You took me in."

"I..."

"And I had nothing."

"What?"

"Look, that explosion destroyed a lot of my stuff. Books. Papers. Personal items. Clothes. It took me almost six months to recover financially from that explosion."

"I...had no idea."

"I know."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you gave me a week, man. I didn't want you to feel obligated to me in any way. That week really did help me get on my feet. I...probably could have swung something."

"Damn, Sandburg, I had no..."

"Besides, Jim...your being here means I get to follow my dream. I was under a lot of pressure to change dissertation topics before you came along. Your allowing me to follow you around helps me to validate my theories and by validating those theories, you've helped a lot of people; people who had no one else to turn to, except you."

"I..."

"Shush, it's starting again."

"Do you believe in angels, Sandburg?"

"Yes. During the commercial I'll tell you about one I met when I was fourteen."

"Seriously?"

"Hand-to-God, man. What? You act like you don't believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you. I met an angel once too?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he appeared to me as this hyperactive grad student."

"Haha. Very funny. Now hush, I don't want to miss this next part."

"Me either, Sandburg. Me either."

--End--

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Dolimir

Home

[an error occurred while processing this directive]