Obliviously Broken

“Hello?” I hurriedly answered. The clock was ticking. He had no idea that it was my first day at my new job. Well, it wasn’t a job, per se. But, it seemed that way to me.

“Hello, is Mrs. Fractured Heart available?”

I was tending to my best friend’s broken heart at the moment. Who was this guy calling anyway? And, calling me Mrs. Fractured Heart…? Preposterous! “What, is this some kind of joke?” I insisted, and hung up.

I walked back to my friend who sat on the couch sobbing. She was nearly finished telling me how her son was horrifically injured while skateboarding on his way to the skate park, without wearing a helmet. She received a phone call from her child care provider who was on the way to the emergency room with him. We were about to leave for the ER; Destiny asked me to drive her.

The doorbell rang.

Who can it possibly be now?! I excused myself again and answered the door.

Indignant, I answered the door to find some freak show guy wearing a red velvet suit, and a top hat. Was this some sort of a joke? I sighed, and went along with the apparent game, “Who are you?”

“Are you Joy Fractzich?”

I was overwhelmed with my friend’s dilemma, so I was feeling quite skeptical of this clown standing before me right now. “Excuse me?” I had no other response. I nearly closed the door in his face, the way I had hung up the phone on him. But, he was persistent….gently though. It was strange the way he enticed me to leave the door open and to listen to him.

“Pardon me, Mrs. Fractzich, but I am no ordinary salesman, as you have assumed…”

“I didn’t say that!” I was startled that he would know my thoughts, although, it was peculiar for a salesman to dress in his sort of fashion. My harsh thought of him being a clown was more fitting.

“True, you did not say that I am a salesman, but I would like to borrow just a few of your valuable minutes to ‘sell’ to you what I have to offer. May I enter your house?”

His eyes looked past me and he looked around the corner at Destiny, while she continued to sob on my couch. He appeared serene, yet concerned when he looked at Destiny, and again at me.

Curious about this strange man I opened my door a little wider and welcomed him into my house. While he walked inside I noticed that he carried a grey metal briefcase. In this part of the state where it rains nearly year-round it surprised me that it looked like new! I looked at this strange man, and found a loss of words upon an attempt to introduce him to Destiny.

He did not miss a beat and declared, “My apologies for I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Dwynwen, but people call my Dewey for short.”

“Well, Dewey, please call me Joy. Formalities are not needed. And, this is Destiny,” she turned toward her friend.

Dewey stepped inside the house and reached out his hand. I grabbed his hand and shook it, feeling an overwhelmingly peaceful tingle rush through my body. I became eager to learn what Dewey had to offer. So, I invited Dewey to present his sales pitch in the living room where Destiny sat.

He greeted Destiny with the same formalities. I noticed that she suddenly felt the same pleasant tingle that I felt too. Her eyes shined with excitement through the tears that slowly began to dry after shaking Dewey’s hand. The tension in her body began to relax. She appeared to ponder who this guy might be.

Dewey smiled at Destiny, knowing her thoughts. “So, I would like to offer you ladies a breath of fresh air that begins today, and will remain with you forever. No pressure though, because people will notice the change once you receive the air, and some may not like it or approve of it. These people could quite possibly be your husbands.”

The glow that encircled Joy and Destiny’s faces began to diminish.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand,” I responded.

“That’s okay, Joy.” Dewey turned to his briefcase and opened it. He pulled from it an old small transistor radio.

The women looked at the radio with awe. I reached for a tissue as I began to sob. Destiny cradled me knowingly.

“Do you know what you have done?!”

Dewey smiled at Destiny, “Yes, I have begun to crack through Joy’s broken heart, Destiny. I know that she has spent the past 15 years of her 25 year life trying to cover the pain she feels. I was there when she lost her parents and siblings in the tragic plane crash, and she was in the small tower with you and your father while he attempted to guide her father with the use of a transistor radio like this one.” He looked warmly at the two young ladies knowing everything about their lives. “Joy, you have covered the pain that runs so deep within you through therapy, medications, self-medicating, and more. You now cling to your husband, and your unborn child out of fear, while trying to obliviously sweep your past under a rug.”

Surprised, I looked at Dewey. I had a hunch that I was pregnant, but figured it was still too soon to confirm. How would this stranger know anything about it? I looked at my friend who studied me with the same surprise that I felt.

“Destiny, I didn’t know…I mean, I thought I might be, but that only crossed my mind yesterday.”

“And as for you Destiny, I have always been amazed at your willingness, however, fearful, to allow your son to venture in areas that raise the hairs on the back of your neck.”

Destiny slowly felt the back of her neck to find that Dewey was correct. “But, I don’t understand.”

“Although you fear skateboards, you still allow your son to use them, even though he does not use proper precaution all the time. Some might call that admirable for you, the mother. But, I have seen you exhausted and emotionally broken at times that you are alone. Between Joy’s tragic loss as a child, that initiated fear in you, and your son’s daring actions, I see that you live in fear.”

Hearing all of this, I began to feel uncomfortable with this man in my house. Besides, I need to take Destiny to the hospital. I don’t have time for this any longer. I began to stand, when I noticed Dewey rising as well, while removing his tall, velvet hat.

Destiny and I suddenly became captivated by Dewey’s shiny head. He had a head full of beautiful hair under that hat, but the glow permeated through his hair and into my heart. “Dewey, your head…”

“I am well aware, Joy.” He smiled his peaceful smile.

I felt the pain of my childhood slowly fade away. The skeptic in me wondered how the years of pain ebbed so quickly.

“That feeling you are having, Joy, is the pure, true love of the Creator of love. He wants you and Destiny to meet Him.” Dewey smiled. “I want to share with you the healing peace that I am privileged to live each day ladies.” He smiled at them, his peaceful, heart healing smiled and gathered his transistor back into his perfect briefcase.

“But wait,” Destiny gasped, “what are you talking about? Where do we go from here?”

Dewey closed his briefcase. “Talk to the chaplain at the hospital, he can direct you. Or go to that church on the street corner near this neighborhood. They will guide you too. Thank you for your time, ladies. Kiss your son for me please, Destiny. He needs it more than anything right now.” And with that, Dewey was gone.

We sat in peaceful silence for the next few minutes, until Destiny’s phone rang.