This Side Of Forever

"Flipping through a mental rolodex filled with disappointments is no way to spend your day," John thought to himself as he sat alone at his cluttered kitchen table. It's funny how a man will continue a dialog with himself in complete solitude with voices from the past adding a thought or two along the way. "I know, I know," he would answer his wife's prompting before his despair sent him back into a state of perpetual denial where he was still king and his minutes self absorbed. Day after day he moved about his home, talking to anyone and everyone who would listen except, that is, the only one present who might actually care. John never saw him there, sitting quietly in the darkness; waiting for a sheepish hello, an invitation to an adventure, or a warm cup of coffee and heart filled conversation. But there he was, as loyal as a one minded dog and with a timeless patience reaching to eternity. He would never leave John because He loved John, and in the predetermined time He had set aside for John he would use John, and that time was soon to come.