Legacy
His mother had always said that laying in a hospital bed when you’re old forces you to think about your past life. After finding himself laying upon such a place, Emil Irons found that time seemed to slow, granting him the time to think. Looking over toward the window of his room, he remembered how there was once nothing there but trees on the left hand side of the open field. Children used to play there, families picnicked there, and couples did what couples do there under the cover of night. He himself had done so many times before. Now there was nothing but buildings, cars, and three single trees on the side of the road. Emil had always been a firm believer in leaving nature alone but sadly, most of his fellow man weren’t. Neither was the color green, a color that filled the pockets of himself and anyone else who sought to make a living.
Emil was fortunate enough to celebrate his seventy-eighth birthday three months before he wound up in the hospital. He thought that he wouldn’t have found himself here if he hadn’t had drunken and smoked so much during his life. The liver decided that it was to quit work soon and a lung collapsed within him. His friends and family always said Emil was a tough ole bird, but even tough birds feel age. Sleep was about to set in when he heard someone at the door.
“Come in,” he managed. In walked a young African-American male who appeared to be in his twenties, wearing a white button-up short sleeved shirt with a pair of black khakis. When Emil saw him enter his room he felt his stomach turn as more memories of his past begin to surface.
“Hello sir,” greeted the man. “I’m here to clean your room today. My name is Nathan.”
“Have at it,” Emil said almost weakly. Nathan began to scrub the counters and remove the trash. The noise of his cleaning started to relax Emil. Sometimes he went crazy when noise wasn’t heard.
“Has your stay been good so far?” Nathan asked as he began sweeping.
“So far so good,” responded Emil, hoping that the young would leave quickly. He hated having people see him in the state he was in, especially young men like Nathan. “I’d like to be out of here today but it isn’t going to happen.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Hope you get home soon.”
Emil only nodded as he heard the sound of sweeping once more. Within a few moments he would be asleep and hopefully, begin another day. Emil turned his gaze in the direction of Nathan when he heard the sweeping stop. Nathan held something in his hand. It was his name bracelet; given to him by the staff during his admittance into the hospital. He had torn it off in one of his fits.
“Mr. Irons? Did you happen to go to Primrose High School?”
“I did yes. Had a swell time too.”
“During the fifties?”
Emil raised a brow.
“Yes. I graduated from there in fifty-eight.”
A bright smile appeared on Nathan’s face. Emil didn’t understand why but the answer was soon revealed when Nathan walked out of his room the returned with a red book in his hand. From the dimness of his eyes, Emil could barely make out a single number and his heart skipped a beat the moment he saw it.
“I found this yearbook during one of my runs.”
A tsunami of memories flooded Emil as he remembered the times he had. And the crimes he committed. As Nathan drew closer, he saw the stains upon the cover of the yearbook, indicating that it had been in the trash. Nathan turned to a near-battered page within the yearbook. He found Emil’s senior picture at the beginning. To see his younger self staring back at him was almost more than he could take.
“My God,” he said in an amazed whisper. “Its been so long ago.”
“What was it like back then?” Nathan asked with evident wonder. “I understand that prices were really low in those days.”
“They were,” confirmed Emil. “Burgers were twenty-five cents and so were a few theaters. I remember riding my bike with my friends down the street at night to the movies then after that to the diners.”
Nathan listened as Emil told tales of what the fifties were like for him. The tone of his voice was joyful as Emil was taken back to his youthful years. Nathan never suspected that the patient that lay upon the bed had omitted details about his life. Details that would cause a man such as Nathan to become angered and disgusted.
“They don’t call it the nifty fifties for nothing,” Emil stated proudly.
“No they don’t,” Nathan said. “I’ve always admired the fifties and the forties. I’m currently studying history as a major at my community college.”
Emil slowly nodded. It pleased him to see the youthful so enthusiastic about the decade in which he grew up in. Emil himself had had a fascination with the eighteen-hundreds when he was growing up. In fact he did a full report on the culture and the fashions of those times for one of his assignments. He had remembered the A+ he had received from his teacher, Mrs. Venture, for such a paper well written.
“You wouldn’t find this man fascinating if you knew what he was about,” came a voice, stern and hateful. The voice was female and when she stepped inside the room Nathan stepped aside, watching with alarm as she made her way to Emil’s bed. Emil glanced at the woman that stood an even six feet, the blonde hair she inherited from her grandmother that was brushed from her eye and felt a wave of remorse that threatened to take the remaining energy from him. “This bed is the perfect place for Emil Emmanuel Irons to think about how his life’s been.”
The way she called the patient by his full name caused Nathan to feel a pinch in his stomach. He knew that hateful tone wasn’t directed at him but he felt it nonetheless. There was also no need to ask if this woman was an acquaintance of the patient.
“Ma’am?” managed Nathan.
“Even on his death bed my grandfather is a hateful and deceitful man. He’s been in here for five days and nobody’s been in here to see him until today.”
As the woman spoke she never took her hateful gaze away from Emil, who lay there breathing as if some other force had begun draining him of life.
“I know I did a lot of shit to you and the rest of my family during my life. All I can do now is apologize for the wrongs I committed toward you.”
The woman didn’t even so much as smile. The hateful mask she wore upon her entry remained there as she now turned to Nathan.
“Did you know that this man was racist? During his youth he regularly terrorized blacks and other races. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg with Emil. Oh yes! Because of this man my father had to find a second job just to attempt to make back, not that he had it long. Emil’s a fraudster, a racist, a womanizer, you name it that’s what he is.”
The woman caught sight of the yearbook Nathan had on his cart. She was about to take it when Emil spoke.
“I’m not proud of what I did Jessica. I’ve-”
“Yeah, yeah I know the whole spheel Emil,” Jessica interrupted as she waved a dismissive hand. “You’ve had time to think about your life”; and then to Nathan, “Once cancer kicks your ass you have time think. They always said Emil was a tough ole bird, but even tough ole birds have their time.”
Nathan began to feel sick from the hatred radiating from this woman. He’d seen many lose their fight to the disease and not one person expressed joy to the deaths of those to that had it. Okay he may have done the things she said he did, but to come and mock a man in the weakened state he was in was heinous.
“He may be all those things but-”
“Don’t defend that piece of shit there. Not against me no.” interrupted Jessica. “His legacy is a legacy of hate, madness, and dishonesty. That yearbook you found, I threw it in the trash. I threw part of his legacy in thrash where it belongs. And let me tell him something else.” Jessica turns to Emil. “I’m going to marry a fine man Emil. You tore me and my sister down every chance you got. You stole from us, you mentally and verbally abused us, and you often told us that we’d only be good for the streets. Guess what, the man I’m marrying is a fine young man and I’m going to graduate soon. Oh and so is Tabitha. Our legacy will be a good one. Yours on the other hand is going in the trash. How do you like that?!”
Nothing came from Emil but silence. Nathan watched horrifically as Jessica took the yearbook Nathan had found and walked out the room without a word. Nathan stared at the empty space Jessica had previously inhabited, stunned by what had just occurred. With his mouth agape, he looked towards Emil who know lay motionless upon the bed. It wouldn’t be long before nurses and doctors filled to room. In fact he heard the alarms outside and the appropriate code announced overhead.
“My God,” he whispered to himself. “I’ve seen hatred before, but never on the scale I just saw….!”
As the nurses and doctors rushed inside, Nathan left the room and as he did so, he vowed that his legacy would not be similar to Emil’s. Nathan’s legacy would be one of success and love.
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