Episode 599: If I Die Young

He wrapped one arm around himself to hold in whatever body heat he had left. His other hand went to his head, holding his hood in place as the icy wet winds whipped at him. Just a few days before it had seemed like an early, welcome spring had arrived; now here he was, trudging through another wave of winter.

It was no use. Even when he kept moving, kept trying to get his blood circulating, he felt that much closer to literally catching his death.

Not that he cared.

But she would when she heard. And he cared about her. So, he’d decided to give in.

He went inside. For weeks, he’d stayed away from the shelter, and there, of course, stood the reason why.

With her father’s nod of permission, and eagle eyes watching her, the kid rushed over, flinging a blanket at him. "You’ve got to get warm," she said, "it’s a bad, bad storm so we brought a couple blankets we don’t hardly use at home, cuz I was worried about you."

"Thank you," he replied. "I’m fine." Though he didn’t waste a second swaddling himself in that blanket.

"I was really worried."

It showed on her sweet little face, so he looked away. "I’m not your responsibility. I’m a grown up, I can take care of myself."

"Everybody needs help. I wanted to help." Tansy sniffled.

He shook his head. Any minute the kid would be sobbing if he didn’t find some way to stop her. "You have helped. You gave me this blanket. First time I’ve been warm all day."

"But I’m worried. I want to help more. I wanted you to have a good job with my dad. He’s a nice man."

"Yeah, I know." He made the mistake of looking at her just as a tear squiggled down her cheek. What was he supposed to do? Pretend he couldn’t see how truly concerned she was? That she cried for him? How could he not do whatever it would take to reassure her? Even put himself back out in the world.

Episode 600: Black Ice