Harold's new life

November one.

An odd day for Harold. At age 44 he had become one of the victims of what is called the economic crisis.

After having worked for 20 years at a lawyers firm, they had to let him and several others go.

So there he was, having worked with so much inspiration in an office job working for the lawyers, supplying them with details, background information and other data on the files they were working on. He never liked to be in the picture lights and did not study to be a lawyer but did love to do what he did so long, and he was respected for that and had his own team of specialists doing what can be called as back-office work.

Now suddenly his life had changed, again. Eight years before he lost his wife due to cancer and had struggled to keep 'alive' and now this.

It was a Sunday morning and on Saturday the staff of the office had organized something for the people who were sent off. They had always worked on Saturdays so the day itself was not unusual. Harold had mixed feelings about it but as loyal as he was did attend. It was a rainy evening and all that water quite matched the general atmosphere. They got together in a pub which was their 'local' in the London City where they often went for drinks after work or in the case of a special win in a court case. He loved the place but knew he would not see it again much since this was in the city and he lived an hour away by train as so many there.

There of course was a lot of noise and since Harold is a rather quiet type he just stood there with some of the staff just chatting and having drinks and the usual cheese and onion crisps. After a while he started watching the clock and for the first time was happy with the early closing hours of London pubs.

He also felt very sorry for some people from his team who would have hard times finding another job. For instance the girls from his back office department who were much younger were mixed in sad emotions and at the next moment were dancing when the jukebox played songs like "Come On Eileen" or Steve Harley's "Make Me Smile".

The train ride back home seemed to take longer than ever.

Now it was Sunday and he sat looking out over his garden from this nice chair set where he had sat every weekend chatting with his Lucy whilst watching birds pick the food he had put down for them. Chairs they felt so comfortable in and in between them was a small round table with a nice shimmering lamp and some small stones they had taken along from vacations.

On the dinner table he had put the few gifts he got from the night before. The usual business gifts like the boring ink pen, of which he knew he probably would use it when he felt better, yet there were some nice cards with personal small messages.

He was awake early and noticed the fog from the morning as the day turned from night to morning. He could hear the birds sing. Harold had taken some breakfast and tea, of course tea, and thought about his future. What would be there for him. His job was his life and now without that.

The autumn wind made it all sound so sad. But he knew he had to take action and see what kind of jobs are available, but even he might focus on another type of work. Some of the lawyers had advised him to call some people who might have something for him. He picked up pen and paper and started to make notes about the thoughts in his head.

After a while he thought of clearing the dinner table so picked up the cards and read them. Most of them were the usual 'will miss you' and sort like messages but one was different. He read it twice and just could not get it;

Call me? I need to talk with you. Here is my mobile number.

Harold did see it was a women's handwriting and it even had hugs below the message.