Short Story Social – THE COMFORTER
Photo credit: anitapeppers from morguefile.com
Steve was the only child of his parents and was born in a rural setup in the city of Texas. He belonged to a middle class family and he was a mediocre. He had a comfortable childhood, but when he was eight his father passed away and their after his life was a struggle. Anyhow he was able to complete his schooling and went for graduation to Washington D.C. Steve was a reserved kind of person and never interacted much with people at the grad. school. He didn’t make friends and would always be alone, either reading or taking a stroll in the nearby woods. He would do all his assignments on time and would do enough study to score a decent mark. He never aimed for anything high or big. By the time he was in his final year, his mother got unwell and critical for some time and finally she passed away. Now Steve was all alone, with no near relatives around and very little fortune left by his parents. After his graduation Steve moved back to his village in Texas, but found himself misfit for the place. So he decided to move to a city.
His search for a job ended with an offer to join a financial firm as junior accounts executive in New York. He sold whatever little assets he had in Texas ad moved to a rented apartment in New York. The apartment was very compact and the building was very old, but it was what a new comer in a city would prefer, so that he will not have to shell too much of his income on rent. Things were smooth and fine. Steve was a reserved personality at work too. He would do the works assigned to him, but would never take-up initiatives of experimenting something new or thinking out of the box. So he had to work as a junior executive for a long time.
But he never regretted as promotion or hike was never his issue. Even the management was happy because he was efficient in his work and never asked for a promotion or hike during his appraisals. Steve was happy the way he was living and felt that getting married would be an intrusion into his life. He was happy and comfortable living in the secluded life peaceful and happy. He felt that he had gained what all humans desire to attain.
After a period of five years Steve was promoted as Accounts Executive from junior Executive. This added an extra income to his salary and Steve had a monthly saving which accumulated to a handsome amount. As he got his increment he decided to move from a rented apartment to a small dwelling of his own. There was a new building which was recently constructed and had same vacant single room with kitchen apartments. Steve had a look on the apartment, it had no extravaganza in it but it was a simple and comfortable place to live in and that was what Steve was looking for and this place was more peaceful and silent compared to his rented apartment.
Steve bought the place and paid the initial amount with his savings and the rest was paid through a mortgage from a bank which would be paid off over a period of next 15 years. Steve was happy to move into the new apartment. He didn’t buy any new furniture or appliances and was happy with what all little he had. Within a week he was well into this new place and was aware of what was where and could even move in utter darkness without being banged. After a short hustle of settling in this new apartment Steve was back to his normal track. His life moved as a routine, but he never complained or was fed up of it. For him, this was all he wanted, nothing extravaganza, but a peaceful life.
Nancy was a colleague of Steve who worked in the adjacent cubical. She was a divorce and a mother of a single child. Her life was stressful as her husband was an alcoholic and abusive person, but it came to rest a year back when she finally had divorced him and moved into a small apartment with her son. She was pleasant and interacted with everyone at work. Many a time she took initiative to have conversation with Steve. She was attracted by Steve’s character. Probably living in a chaotic condition, she always dreamt of a peaceful person as husband and found such character in Steve. Day-by-day she was getting attracted to Steve and was finding reason to interact with him. She would go for lunch breaks with him and would try to catch his attention. But Steve was never interested in here or gave extra attention to here.
With time she realized that Steve was a very reserved kind of person who likes to be alone. Then she started avoiding him and in a few months she was promoted and got transferred. With passing year Steve got yet another promotion and an increment in his salary. After his personal expense and saving he still had some cash left off. Steve was not a very religious man but a regular church attender who sits on the last bench of the church and leaves 5 minutes before the mass gets over. But he was convicted to God and was a righteous man. So he decided to do some charity with the left over income.
This was the routine of Steve till the age of 52, but then suddenly the firm went through financial crisis and many of the employees were sacked off and one of them to go out was Steve. Steve was out of job and was aware that taking into account his age and his job profile it would be difficult for him to attain a job. So again Steve was in a crisis, as he was having no earning and with all the saving he had he would get exhausted within few years.
Then suddenly one day he saw an add in the paper inviting retired singles and couples to stay together. It was not an old age home but few like minded people living together sharing their joys and sorrows. Steve had no choice but to accept this fate with his savings he got enrolled and put his apartment on rent with which he use to meet his monthly expense. He was provided with a small room and enough materials to stay comfortably. He use to spend time in worship, meal and doing manual labor, but still never use to speak too much with people. This too was a new adaptation which soon became a part of Steve’s life, but as years went off a new crisis surfaced.
Due to lack of fund the management had taken loan from bank by mortgaging the whole place and they were never able to repay back and the place was going to be confiscated by the financial firm. They all were given to go back to their own places. All of them left with their children who came to pick them up. But there was no one to take Steve back home. He had told the tenants to vacate two months back and now he was back in his old place. Steve was worried as his savings got exhausted and he had very little cash left from the last month’s rent to survive for few more days. But still there was calmness and peace on his face.
There was a young man who lived in the basement of the building Steve lived and he was attracted to the bright and pleasing smile of Steve. Once he visited Steve and began to interact and share his problems and issues he had and how much he was worried about that. Then he asked about Steve and Steve narrated to him his situation, though he didn’t know how he would survive still Steve was calm and had a smile on his face. This gave a new ray of hope to the youth and he was no more worried about his problems. He began to chat regularly with Steve and felt comforted by Steve’s words.
One fine morning the youth hung up a board at the entrance of the building with following words, “If you face problems in your life than come and share it with Steve Olson and you will be comforted, find comfort from your problems in room No. 103”. Initially people didn’t notice it but in a few days some gravely troubled souls saw this board and meet with Steve. They were astonished at his simplicity and the way he comforted them of their problems which they thought was a grave situation. But after conversation with Steve they never felt that to be a grave issue.
Soon they told others about Steve and soon people began to flow in to meet with Steve. They use to pay him as a token 10, 20, 50 and more $, but Steve never asked for a fees for his service. This became a means of living for Steve and as days went by the number of people pouring in was too high so Steve began giving them appointment. Now people use to call him to fix an appointment. Steve didn’t realize the great change that had happened in his life and was busy comforting and helping others.
One fine day Steve received a call from a lady who asked, “Is this the comforter”.
Steve though for a moment till now he was Steve, from his childhood he lived the identity of Steve but soon he will be losing his identity. This was the first sound of change, the city will know more know Steve Olson for them it will be “The Comforter” and this is what people want from him and this is what he was destined for. Steve replied to the lady, “Yes this is the Comforter”.
“No matter who we are God has a plan for each one of us and he will reveal that to us at the right time and he will use us”.
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