Invisible
Dan Johnson
© October, 2012
Inspired by a recent movie I saw where a character in a retirement home said, “Invisible, I have become invisible.”

I was once a man
Seen, heard, valued, respected
But now I am a ghost.

“Do you see me?” the old man asked, “Yes” I replied. The old man sipped from his coffee cup, wanting to savor the last taste of dark roast before facing the rain storm. He spoke loudly since he was at the other end of the counter…well just two stools away. “I had a good job, drove a limousine…a shiny new Lincoln every year for forty one years.” Still working each drop of coffee as if it was gold, he looked up, smiled through his wrinkled face and said, “I paid taxes, always paid my bills, even paid alimony, never late…but you know what?, now people walk past me as if I don’t exist.” I motioned to the waitress for more coffee…then I noticed she had to walk past him to get to me; she acted as if he was not even there. I asked if she would fill his cup one more time, she glanced to her left and said, “Oh, him, I forgot he was even here?” while working on my coffee, the old man said, “You see, when you reach a certain age, you slowly begin drifting out of sight…no matter what value you provided in your youth, it doesn’t count for much…you just wait, one day, just like me, you’ll become invisible.” The old man stood, now bent from arthritis, bundled himself for the waiting rain, but just before he opened the door to leave, he said to the waitress, “see you tomorrow” Without looking up she waved him off by saying, “Bye dad, see you later.”