After graduating from high school, Mathew sets out to do a two-year missionary service like everyone else his age.
Mathew thought that his only problem would be him adjusting to the city as someone who's lived in a farming town all his life. he didn...
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It was around ten in the morning, and I was in a pair of sweatpants and a loose shirt. I smiled as the lady behind the counter helped me check out. Her coworker had gone in to see if they had a brand of corned beef that wasn't on the shelves, and the lady was taking her time to talk to me as we waited.
"How's Nathaniel?" she asked, smiling as she pursed her lips and let out a low whistle. She was a woman with greying hair, and it seemed like her eyesight was failing since she kept squinting at the objects she would pick up and take a look at. "He hasn't been here in a while," she added, dropping the can of peas on the counter before looking straight at me. Her definition of 'in a while' was probably a few days. Nath came here quite often.
The store was empty apart from me, which was typical on a weekday morning since people had gone out to work, and the kids in town were in school.
"He's doing fine," I muttered, resting my hands on the counter as I looked over at the clock hanging on the wall behind her. How long does it take to check a supply room? I wondered.
"Glad to hear," the lady said. "Please take care of him. I've known the boy since he was a twig," she said, emphasizing how skinny he had been by putting her two pointing fingers together. "He'd come here and cry for hours at a time. A woman with children doesn't forget that."
My eyes went wide with sudden investment. I was interested in what she had to say now. Did she know Nath since he was seventeen? I knew he came over to the store quite often, and he seemed to be in better terms with the lady than he was with most people in the town.
"He's a good kid, can't really imagine why his mother would drive him out because of who he is," the lady said, smiling as she leaned in a bit over the counter. "Well, she missed out on meeting the nice boy her son snagged up."
I wasn't really interested in the compliment she was tossing my way. It seemed even though Nath spoke to her, she didn't exactly know why he had been thrown out. Her thinking that it was because he was gay was probably an assumption. I would have made that assumption too. I guess I was the only one that knew what really went on with his mum.
The woman continued talking, but I really wasn't listening to what she was saying. My mind was on Nath, and how I felt kind of hopeless about the whole situation. I could pretend that nothing was wrong, and just let him bottle things up like he had always done, but what would be the point? It would be a recipe for disaster.
After a while, the lady that went in to check if they still had corned beef came back with a can in her hand. I thanked her, and the older lady helped me check out. She slipped some cigarettes into the plastic bag, telling me they were on the house for Nath. I thanked her before I picked the plastic bag with groceries off the counter and left the little store. It was warm outside, and silent since most people had headed out to work or school.
I wondered what Sam and the others would be doing at this time. They were probably having a group prayer and walking from house to house to spread the word. I felt a little queasy at the memory of walking around in the missionary uniform morning after morning in my first few weeks here. Things have changed so much since then.
