It's a Wonderful Life

I bought an older house last year and with it came a tenant. The tenants name was Albert and he was an older gentleman of 83 years. I came to know Albert quite well and he was quite the character. At 83, Albert lived on his pension and he couldn't quite make ends meet. His rent was $500 per month and in Canada the utilities were constantly climbing. Albert would sell pills and collect things that he could sell for cash.

His home was in the inner city so he had a plethora of people at his door looking to buy or sell something to him. I used to give him heck for letting some people into his home because I was worried that one of them would hurt him. Albert always had a pocketful of cash which he kept in his housecoat pocket when at home and in his coat pocket when he was out. He was robbed numerous times in his home and was very lucky not to be hurt. Everyone knew that Albert had cash in his pocket and one very large native fellow walked right into Alberts house and straight into the kitchen where he grabbed Albert by the neck from behind and reached into his pocket and ran with his money.

Albert was a soft touch and would give you anything you wanted but not without a price, you had to tell him he was handsome and wonderful and he would agree! He used to keep peppermints in his pocket and if he liked you, he would hold his hand out at arms length and tell you "I only give these to people I hate". A wonderful little smirk would come over his face and you knew you were his friend.

Albert lived alone for the most part and did rent out the spare bedroom in his house. Where he would find these people always amazed and annoyed me but I knew he needed the financial help so I would always drop by to check on the current roommate. Sometimes I would tell him to be careful because I didn't like the person he had chosen. One long time roomie he had was a pill popper and a drinker and would become abusive to Albert. He slammed his bedroom door on Alberts hand one time and gave him a nasty gash on his hand. It took weeks to heal. I evicted that jerk at Alberts request.

Most of Alberts problems stemmed from lonliness and he needed company. He had a cat called "Nuisance" that he loved dearly and treated like a queen. He and I would go out for dinner just about every week and do a little bit of grocery shopping. He loved to tell me how to drive and which way to turn. He was very bossy but charming. Tim's was a definate stop on our outings. On his 84th Birthday we went to the Legion for dinner and Albert looked wonderful in his white shoes, Legion coat and pin with a nice dress shirt and pants.

I used to call Albert every few days and on October 16th I hadn't seen or heard from Albert, he wasn't answering his phone so I dropped by his house. Nuisance was outside, Alberts cane was outside and his front doors were open but latched by chain from the inside. I broke in an found Albert face down on the floor. He had been there about four days.

My friend was gone. I don't know exactly what happened but I will never forget the sight and I will never forget the way in which he died. Alone. I know there is nothing I could have done for him, I know that it's not my fault. He was fiercly independant, didn't want to go to a home, he was very sure of that. He didn't want to sit around with other Veterans listening to their stories about the war, he had his own memories and kept them to himself.

Albert didn't have any family, at least not that came around. He had a son and daughter that were my age but they were raised by their mother and he saw them only once in a decade. I worked with the Trustee to try and find them but to no avail. I planned Alberts funeral, or at least picked his clothes and the cemetary as he was buried by Last Post for Veterans and it was wonderful. We had a dish of mints for the five friends that attended, two were Pall Bearers, (one of them the jerk I booted out of his house) the manager of the seniors centre that Albert frequented, a neighbor and me. I gave Alberts euolgy and went to the cemetary for his last post. Bag Pipes played as they lowered him to his grave and his casket was covered with a Canadian Flag.

Albert would have been proud.

I moved new tenants into Alberts house about a month after he passed and they took his cat Nuisance. I asked them to keep Alberts chair for the cat as he slept on it all the time. They took good care of Nuisance but he wandered and a week ago he was hit by a Yellow Cab and killed, the tenant was there when it happened and picked him up and carried him home. He is with Albert now.

My point of writing this is to remind people to be kind to the old scruffy man or woman you see on the street. They might be lonely or sick and need companionship. A friend. Despite the mess I had to clean up and the time it took to deal with Alberts things, the cost involved (he was insolvent) was worth it. He may have died alone but he was buried with dignity and he will always be in my thoughts and prayers.