RETIREE

Jake Shevitz

A man was running down Lake Drive.

He was panting lightly as he ran, his arms bent at ninety degree crooks, swinging back and forth in perfect form. His feet rotated in his neon, laceless running shoes, making small circles in the air, touching the pavement for as little time as possible. He did not jerk, he did not stumble, he went the perfect speed.

The man was older than one would expect for how refined his form was. His face was somewhat wrinkled, the skin on the back of his legs was slightly sagged, and his gray hair had almost completely receded, leaving his head exposed to the glaring sun.

Rivulets of sweat ran down his back, darkening his shirt that was around the same color as his hair. As he turned left onto Fritz, he picked up the pace lightly, the sweat turning into a pour, the distance between each individual pant decreasing rapidly as they turned into light wheezes.

As he got halfway down the street, he started to really accelerate, the skin on his legs waving in its own strange pattern, until his feet finally touched the grass of a front lawn. He slowed to a waddle, putting his hands on his sides and hooking his thumbs below his ribcage. He walked back and forth across the lawn and took deep, long inhales. After a couple of minutes of aimlessly walking back and forth across the same spot, he shambled over to the front door of the one-story house the lawn was in front of, and pushed it open.

The door opened on a woman, maybe five, ten if generous, years the man’s younger. There were still heavy touches of blonde in her browning hair, and the only parts of her skin that showed age were her hands, speckled and somewhat twitchy.

She was flipping through this morning’s newspaper, dated 5/2/19, eyes flicking over the sports section. She wasn’t a fan of baseball, but she always wanted to see if and when the Cavaliers had played, and if they had won.

Her eyes flicked upwards at the sweaty, disheveled man. “You were on the lawn for a while. Are you alright?” She asked.

“I did three miles today.” The woman opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her. “I paced myself, don’t worry.”

“Didn’t we agree on a two mile maximum?”

“I can handle it.”

“You could. You’re not forty anymore, Nathan.”

He scoffed. “Please. If I was forty, I wouldn’t bother with a single digit run.” She made a little “hmm” at that. “No kiss?”

“When you shower. I can feel the moisture from here.”

He rolled his shoulders back, the feeling of being indoors causing the wet feeling of the sweat to finally sink in. “Noted.” He lumbered over to the  bathroom and shut the door.

“Sam is coming tomorrow.”

Nathan looked up at his wife, reading the 5/4/19 newspaper. “And when was he going to tell me?”

“You know him. You should consider it an honor that he told us this early.”

“Is he bringing Grace?”

“He didn’t say. He’s probably bringing her, but you can’t expect him to tell us.”

Nathan stood up and wandered over to his bookshelf, thumbing through it. “You know, they’ve been together for two years, and she still insists on calling us ‘Mr. and Mrs. Coltwell?’ When is it going to be Nathan and Lisa?”

“Maybe when they get married.”

“When?”

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think there’s potential there?”

“I’m not saying there isn’t.”

“You’re just also not saying there is.”

Nathan clicked his fingers. “Exactly.”

“Have a little faith in him. He’ll settle down eventually.”

“I hope so.”

Lisa sighed. “Come on, two out of three kids are already married. That isn’t bad. How many parents of that many can say that?”

Lisa was reading 5/5/19 when the sound of tires on gravel sounded outside. “Sam’s here.” She called to Nathan, who was in the other room, thumbing through his book.

He got up, gripping the sides of his armchair to boost himself, looking out the window.

Sam was indeed there, and so was Grace, their car a color of red that caused Nathan to squint when the sun reflected off it. He started towards the door.

“Let them knock.” Lisa interrupted him. “It’s more natural.”

They waited for the two raps on the door, and Lisa opened it. Their family were never partial to formal greetings. While Grace tried to work in a “hello”, Lisa chose to give Sam a nice hug, followed by a somewhat stiff but not ill-intentioned one from Grace.

Sam’s skin had gotten better. He had always been a bit pale, but his time out west had made it tanner. He wasn’t in the same shape his brother was, who took to the same running rituals of his father, but he was lean.

Nathan clapped Sam on the shoulder and opted for a hand shake with Grace. Though he had doubts about her relationship with his son, he liked her in that she was as formal as he. It felt like he was back in the office again.

“It’s good to see you,” he said to both of them, meaning different things in the same tone.

As Lisa and Grace walked to the kitchen, Sam turned to Nathan. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

They walked Nathan’s running route together.

“So, how’s that thing you’ve been doing?”

“You mean sound mixing?”

“Yeah, that.”

Sam was walking significantly quicker than him, so he turned around and walked backwards to sort of match pace.

“It’s been going well. Do you understand what I do?”

“No, not really. But I’m happy if you’re enjoying it.”

They walked up and over the hill that always gave Nathan a run for his money on the hotter mornings.

“You know, speaking of employment–”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Sam’s foot skipped over a rock and he had to shuffle his feet to stay upright. “So what made you quit?”

“I don’t know.”

“You always told me to only do something if I–” he ticked off on his fingers– “had a good reason, could justify it to those who were concerned with it, and would be able to survive any consequences that came with.”

“And I also had a strict ‘no smart-asses’ policy.”

“Well, it’s unlike you. It’s out of character. You worked for so long at that job. I would come home every day to find that you were going to be home in three hours, because you were always at the office.”

“Maybe it was just time for a change.”

Sam blinked at him. “A change, how? You were doing great for yourself.”

“Maybe that’s why I needed the change.” They walked for a little while longer. “Don’t you ever get bored? Doing...whatever sound mixing entails? You work at a computer, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, don’t you ever get bored?”

“Yeah. But you were the one who taught me not to quit just because I was out of it.”

“Hypocrisy settles in when you get older. You’ll learn someday.”

“Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff you would tell me when I still lived in the house.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Here I am, thirty-two, unmarried, working behind a computer in Hollywood. I’m easily replaceable, unrecognizable, and basically a machine part. Do you think I’m successful?”

Nathan shrugged. “I’ve got no frame of reference. Didn’t I also always tell you to define your own success? Do you think you’re successful?”

“No idea.”

“Yeah, you start off thinking that with every new job. You know, I may not understand what you do, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the best at it.”

“I think this is your last check.” Lisa slipped an envelope into Nathan’s hand.

“About time.” Nathan opened it, reading the contents over, taking in the amount written on the slip and the 5/12/19 scribbled on it. “So, this is really it.”

“How do you feel?”

Steph visited a few days later.

She didn’t bring Greg, which was a shame. Nathan liked him.

They drove out to her old high school where she used to run track, and where he would sometimes run on weekends when no one was around. After all, who would kick an old man out of a public high school running track?

“Sam told me he came down last week.”

“Yeah, he did.”

“How’s he?”

“What, you don’t talk to your own brother?”

“I do! It’s just, you’ve seen him recently.”

They were walking in circles around the track.

“Why couldn’t Greg come?”

“Out visiting his parents, funnily enough.”

Nathan huffed a little. “Funny how that works sometimes, isn’t it? How’s work?”

She shrugged. “It’s work. Work stuff.”

“Very descriptive.”

“What can I say? I’m happy there.” She smiled a little. “Unlike someone I know.”

“You going to get on me, too?”

She shrugged. “Not really. I think you have every right to quit if you don’t want to work there. You had enough money to retire, right?” Nathan nodded. “Then I don’t get what the big deal is.”

“Now explain that to your little brother.”

Steph chuckled. “Did you give him the ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’ thing?”

“Of course I did.”

They continued to walk along the track circle. “Do you still run?” Nathan asked. “You were the best back in the day.”

“I don’t do it regularly. Maybe on the weekends, when I have time.”

“You should get back into it. Like I said, you were the best.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m all for you leaving the office, but I could say the same about you.”

“I’m old. I’ve got an excuse.”

“Mom tells me you still run every morning, so I don’t know about that.”

Nathan scoffed. “I don’t think mom knows what I’m capable of.”

“You sound like a super villain right now, I hope you know.”

After a few more laps, they got back into the car.

“I really am happy for you that you’re retiring, you know.”

Josh called ahead the day after.

“Can I come visit next Thursday? Maybe around three?”

The two men ran down the road.

When placed side by side, as they were now, they looked like images of each other, thirty years apart. The older man lagged behind the younger, who slowed down.

“You want to stop?” Josh asked, watching his father huff and groan.

“Why did I agree to do this with you today?” Nathan panted.

“Hey, you’re the one who got me into running.” He replied. “You only have yourself to blame. Why? Can’t keep up?”

“We’re not fifteen and forty-six anymore, Josh. Give my knees a break.”

They both walked towards a nearby park, their thumbs pressed to their sides. “I guess you’re right. Mom wants you home in one piece.”

“Noble of her.”

The two sat down on a stone bench. The cold of the rock seeped into Nathan’s shorts.

“Why’d you choose to run with me?”

“I don’t know.” Josh shrugged. “Guess I wanted to.”

There was a long silence. These weren’t uncommon with Josh. Nathan didn’t dislike them, though. It was comfortable, in a strange way. He found himself missing them often.

“So, the job.”

Josh looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Did you get the promotion?” Josh shook his head. “Ah, well. They don’t appreciate you, anyway.”

“I don’t know, the guy who got it seemed to know his stuff.”

Nathan shook his head. “You can’t give in to that. I know you deserved it.”

There was another long silence.

“So, about your job.”

Nathan cut him off. “Before you ask, I don’t know exactly why I quit.”

“No, I was going to ask what you’re going to do now.”

The two men stared at each other.

“You know, I’ve been trying not to think about that too much.”

“Why not? You’ve got plenty of time to do what you want now.”

“I guess I just don’t know what to do with it.”

They stared at a nearby river.

“It feels like I’m just waiting for retribution that will never come. Like I’ve worked for nothing, and now I’m just waiting.”

“There has to be something, right?”

They both kept watching the river. Josh stood. “I’m gonna head back. Shannon will want us all to be together. You, me, the kids, mom, you know. You gonna be okay on your own?”

“I’m not senile yet.”

Josh stood up and turned around, jogging off. Nathan could hear his feet hitting the pavement at a perfect pace.

Nathan sat on the bench, feeling the humid June air wash over him. He listened to the birds.

After a while, he got up and started to jog home.