It was just like any other morning. There was a lot of papers on my desk, and I didn’t have much time to get it all done. And just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse, my boss came into the office and introduced me to the new hire who was supposed to help. I was furious when he reached out and said, “Hello.” My new coworker was the one who ruined my life.
I was in a hurry to get to work on time, something I haven’t been doing as often lately. I wore a wrinkled shirt since I neglected to iron it. I saw my daughter Sophie doing the dishes.
I was in charge of what she did, but I didn’t always get things done at home. I asked if I might cook her breakfast, but she said no. “Please let me take you to school,” I begged, but she replied no.
She didn’t care about me after my wife died, and she performed a lot of housework. This made me feel like a bad parent. Sophie had a hard time blending being a teenager with being a kid. She needed to live her own life without having to do duties like running errands and doing the laundry.
My boss let me into the office just in time and told me that a new person had started. I was better. “At last, some help,” I muttered to myself.
When the new coworker came up to me, though, everything went wrong.
“Why are you here?” You obtained a job at the gym where I work? I lost it.
Mark, the new guy at work, didn’t say a word.
He caused the car crash that killed my wife, Kira, a few years ago. I hated him and thought he was to blame for how my life ended out.
Mark looked down and said he was sorry. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. That terrible night made me feel like I was almost dead.
“Hey, I don’t need your apologies.” I said, “They won’t give my wife back,” and then I went back to the piles of paperwork I had to finish. I didn’t need that guy’s help, and I couldn’t stand being around him, let alone sharing an office with him.
Mark came up to me the next day and said, “I understand how you feel.”
I told him, “You don’t know anything,” and my hand shook with wrath.
He continued, “That night when you lost your wife, I lost my whole family.” “My wife was pregnant and it was hard for her, and I was going too fast to get her to the hospital. He said, “Neither she nor the baby made it,” feeling terrible and guilty.
I was able to understand him better. If I were him and Sophie and Kira’s lives were at stake, I would drive that fast too.
I don’t want anything to do with him anyway.
My supervisor came into the office that day and gave me even more stuff to do. He told me to finish these by tonight. I just nodded and began to work.
But then my phone rang. My mother called. “Are you going to the debate at Sophie’s?” “You would be so disappointed if you didn’t come again,” she remarked.
I knew I wouldn’t, though.
My new coworker, the man I feared killed my wife, encouraged me to “go to your daughter’s debate.” If you leave now, you’ll get there just in time. I’ll handle the job.
I told them no. But then he looked me in the eyes and said, “You can’t bring back the dead, but you can always save the living.”
What he stated seemed true. Maybe I should quit being angry. Mark was quite sad. He also lost the individuals he loved the most.
I merely nodded and left the office, happy that I had finally let go of the grudges I had been holding on to for so long.
Sophie looked around at the people in the audience when she stepped on stage. She smiled when she saw me, which made me think that a broken link could be fixed.
