070. The Widower

The slow turning fan sucks up yesterday’s stale cigarette smoke hanging like a mist a solitary customer sits at the bar drinking his only pint of the day The landlord completely ignores him except if he wants another drink casually smoking away keeping the silence between the two broken only by the fruit machine chiming out its tune oblivious to its surroundings The man doesn’t bother to speak just stares deep into his beer remembering how it once was before he lost his wife five years before He walks through the rain the weather matching his mood stopping at the church yard to visit his wife to plant another flower at the head stone and to say another prayer Back at home with no one for company the man prepares for bed hoping tomorrow will be different when he knows it will be the same