Neon Sign

I was walking down a dark alley there was trash littered about, cats making that terrible cat call and the smell of human waste that burned my nose. I had just broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years, well I guess I didn’t break up, I caught her with my best friend in our apartment. She just looked at me when I caught them making love in our bed…I didn’t say anything, I just turned away and walked out the door. I knew I would have to get my stuff sooner or later but right now I just wanted to be alone.

As I continued my slow shuffle with my head hung low I heard the soft humming…I didn’t know what it was, but why did I care…I felt dejected and not in the mood to care about anything at the moment. I saw a homeless man sitting near a dumpster, he looked disheveled but kind, he asked me if I had some change I could spare and a smoke. I dug in my pocket and handed him what little change I had and gave him a smoke…I leaned down to light it for him. He smiled at me and just said…’follow the light’. I had no idea what that meant but it just seemed like he was a little tipsy and he an empty bottle next to him. I just smiled and said…’sure, I’ll do that’, and went on my way.

I had just left the alley and turned the corner when I saw this neon sign on a small building that said ‘Good Things Always Happen’…it looked like a little bar, so I decided to stop in and have a beer or two to maybe take some of the pain away.

As I walked into the bar I noticed this woman sitting at the end, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was curvy in all the right places, beautiful brown eyes and wavy brown hair down past her shoulders but what really caught my attention was her smile. She seemed to have a very kind smile…I couldn’t explain it but it just drew me in.

I walked to the bar a couple seats from her and ordered my beer…she looked in my direction and said…’Hi my name is Cheryl’…I politely waved and said…’Hi my name is Jeff.’ We shared some pleasantries back and forth; I was enjoying the conversation.

‘You look like you are little down in the dumps’…she said. I explained to her what happened to me earlier…her smiled dropped from her face. ‘I know how you feel, I walked in on my boyfriend and best friend a couple of days ago’…she said.

It was nice to have someone to talk to that understood how you felt at that moment and we seemed to connect on so many levels. She was an aspiring writer as was I, we liked a lot of the same foods and hangouts. I couldn’t believe the luck of meeting someone in such a small little bar.

It was starting to get late and I needed to head somewhere to sleep for the night; I didn’t want to go back to the apartment until tomorrow to get my things so Cheryl said…’I know a place you can stay for the night, my place. You are very kind and I feel as though I can trust you.’ I was so surprised and said…’How do you know I’m not an axe murder or something?’. She said…’I can just tell by the kindness in your eyes.’

I paid for our drinks and followed her up to her apartment upstairs above the neon sign.

Needless to say we are still together and it has been 10 years…I can’t believe it….thank god for the homeless man and the neon sign.