What You Don't Say

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, raining and chilly so I decided to surf the net and see what was new and exciting. I checked out Seven Days, one of my favorite bloggers then decided to read the local newspaper, The Islander.

I read about all the good things that were happening in the Islands then moved on to the obituaries. I usually don't read them because I do not know many people from here even though I've been here for 10 years. I read the first name and looked at the picture, no, no one I knew, then looked over to the right of it. There was a picture of my mechanic, Dick. I take a second look then gasp out loud. What?!

I start thinking back about the last conversation that we had. He was telling me that he was retiring the first of the year. Things were changing too much and he wanted to do something new. I asked what and he said he didn't know but that he needed a change.

I call him 'my' mechanic because that is how he made people feel. He made you feel like you were special and your car was the most important car that he was working on. His sidekick, Roger was also 'my' mechanic. Any time that I was there we solved the worlds problems and I felt comfortable hanging out with Hunter, the cat in the office.

As I was leaving the last time I saw Dick, I thanked him then recalled what had made me decide to return to that shop time after time. I shared with him the time that I asked them to rotate my tires and one of them came back into the office and that they did not need to be rotated. I thought to myself, how honest they are. They could have just done it and charged me and I never would have known the difference. Dick smiled and said, "I sleep well at night".

I bid him goodbye and thanked him again. Little did I know that that would be the very last time I would see him. I am thankful that I did not wait to tell him how much I appreciated him.