The Boy Did Not Have To Suffer After All
Thanks To Warmheart's Quick Action

I’m like the next Joe, really.  Well, I don’t like to toot my own horn.   I’m really just the guy down the street, aren’t I?    So, how do I tell this story?  Maybe I should just start telling you what happened and let the story tell itself.   Isn’t that how it works best?   

 The main thing is that I don’t like to see other people suffer, especially if they are about to go through something I already went through.    That’s what this story is about, saving a young child from seeing the tragedy that I saw.  From experiencing the ungodly horror that I experienced.  

It wasn’t that many years ago that I watched my mother die a wretched, horrible death.   Damn it, nobody should have to go through it!  No one should have to stand there and listen to the horrified screams of their dear mother.  Nobody on God’s green earth should ever have to stand by watching, screaming, as the flames engulf the house and then the very room I had shackled her in.

It makes me want to cry just thinking about how God would cause me to live through such a nightmarish experience.   So when fate intervened and sent a kid to meet me at the airport the very day my mother passed away, one of the most beautiful of all stories transpired.   From my tale, you will really see why it is that I am called “Warmheart” by friend and foe alike.   Listen, let, learn, love, live, then leave me alone.  Can’t I grieve in peace?!!

I was in sort of a hurry to catch a flight to LA.   You who have lost parents would know what I am talking about.  Once they have made the trip to the great beyond, you have gone through such a heart-wrenching, soul-shattering experience that you realize it’s best to get away for a couple days.  What the heck.  I decided to treat myself to a trip to Disneyland .   I just knew it would do me good, and lord knows I needed something good to happen in my life at that moment.   At the airport, I inquired as to the cost of a trip to John Wayne Airport .   It was then that I discovered that I only had enough to pay for a regular coach faire and still have enough to enjoy the sights and sounds of the well known land of wonder.   I bought the coach ticket and sat down to face the grueling 45 minute wait.   How, I wondered, oh how could I work it out to upgrade to first class? 

There were a number of gabbing tourists waiting at the same gate as I, including a rather embarrassing woman sitting right next to me.  I think she had cerebral palsy or epilepsy or something because she spoke in a slow, slurred speech.   She poked me and asked something about where she should wait for her flight, but I was having nothing doing.   Hey, I know these types, they ask an innocent question and the next thing you know they’ve got you reaching into your wallet and shelling out hard earned god damned money.  And for what?!  For what?!!  Because they’re too damned lame to know what stinking flight they’re on?!  Well, she wasn’t getting any of my bread.  No sir. 

“Fuck you!” I said and got up to move to another seat where I could enjoy some peace and quiet, and keep my eye out in case certain authorities might show up with embarrassing questions about my poor mother’s demise.  Couldn’t they leave me alone?!!!!  Just let me get on this plane, that’s all I asked!  

But sitting next to me now was a distraught young man who was telling the old bag next to him some sob story.   I tried to block him out of my mind but then the key words passed from his lips.  “My mother is dying and I don’t have enough to fly out to see her before she…..passes away.”  

Well!   Well!    Well!!!!!!!    WELLLLLLL!!!!!!!   What kind of man would I be to sit idly by while this kid was trying to go see his dear, sweet old mother?    Could I just let him suffer?   Would you?   No!   My fabulous mind immediately formed a plan designed to save him from heartbreak.   I tapped the kid on the shoulder and told him to follow me.   He started to reach under his seat for his suitcase.   My plane was due to take off in twenty minutes so I just didn’t have time for this.

“Don’t worry about that, kid, it’ll take care of itself.  Come on!”

 We walked to a place where we could speak unhindered.   I looked him square in the eye.

 “Listen kid.   I know what you’re going through.”
”No you don’t”, he said, voice whiny and shaky, “nobody could!”

I eyed the ticket agent booth, hoping against all hope that I could perform my act of heroism before they closed up shop and started boarding.  A flaming arrow of anxiety sailed through my heart as I realized that I had to talk and talk fast.

 “Wait, I do know just what you’re going through.  Don’t you realize that my mother died this very day?”

He stifled a sob.  “She d-did?”
”Yes. And it was horrible and ugly.”   I put on a look of grief and remorse.  “God, I hope I never have to see anything like that again.  No one should go through that, kid.  Look, let me help you son.  Let me help you and you will go through your life wondering who I was, and wishing you could thank me in some way.”

 I saw that the ticket agents were starting to clear things up and knew I had to act.

“Give me whatever money you have, and I’ll go straighten everything out.   You’ll be happy, I’ll be happy and there will be a brighter day tomorrow.”
The kid’s face brightened up.  “Really?”

“Yes, but there is no time.  Give me that money.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of crumpled bills, and then handed them to me with a look of trust on his innocent face.  I counted the wad with the speed of a drug dealer.  Two hundred bucks.    Just enough.  Just enough!

“You’ll never regret this, kid”, I said, scuffing up his hair and hurrying to the agent.

 “Would you like a glass of wine, sir?”  I heard the stewardess’ voice say, not twenty minutes later.   “Here is our wine list.  Perhaps you would like to order some caviar?”   

“Caviar, eh?   Yes, perhaps I would like some caviar!”   I switched on my personal television set and sat back thinking about the day's events.  I wished I could order a hero sandwich because I sure felt like one at that moment.  Maybe someone would give me a medal some day but today I knew I had to settle for my own special recognition of greatness.  

Hey, like I said, I was doing the kid a favor.  I've said it before and I'll say it again. No one should watch their parents die.   So he was happy, and I sure was too, my feet stretched out.   First class.  The ooooonly way to fly.  

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