Chapter 8

SAN FRANCISCO, Dennis Wang waited anxiously, in his San Rafael home for the So Long Farewell Hauling Company to come and take his TV.

He needed to get to his shop, and it was a long commute.

He would have rather taken the TV over to Goodwill by himself, because he hated being dependent on other people. But the TV wouldn’t fit in his car. It was also too big for him to carry by himself.

He noticed then that one of the buttons on his brown cardigan was missing.

He looked down at the floor; then went into the bedroom to look there.

He found it near the bathroom.

He picked it up and stuck it in the pocket of his gray pants, noticing a small grease stain near the pocket. Then he looked at his watch.

***

At 10:00, he used the landline to call Elsa at Magic Dirt to make sure she had opened the store. 

She was there; the store opened and ready for customers. Dennis was almost always there to open it himself. Through the fifteen years of his owning the shop, there had been few exceptions.

The men from the So Long Farewell Hauling Company finally arrived. Their surly demeanor was a far cry from the friendliness of the website.

One of them provided a limp handshake and offered no smile. The other looked at their paperwork. "We're picking up a television"

"Yes," Dennis said. "I'll show you where it is." He led them into the living room. On the way there, he had a brief memory flash—  watching Homeland with Nancy. Eating black bean burritos. They had always eaten black bean burritos when watching Homeland. On Grey's Anatomy night, they ate orange chicken from Trader Joe.

Dennis didn’t eat any of those foods anymore. He didn’t need them.

He didn’t need Grey's Anatomy or Homeland. He'd be fine without a TV.

He'd read books.

He reached in his pocket and felt the small button. He twiddled it with his fingers. Nancy had always hated the cardigan. She said it made his stomach look like that of a pregnant woman. Yet, she would have sewed the button back on for him.

The men look at the TV. They talked among themselves. They made various groans and facial expressions to indicate this job was harder than they expected, and they didn't get paid enough.

"Can you do it?" Dennis asked.

 For the first time, one of the men smiled. "I hope so," he said.

They took about ten minutes to get the TV onto their cart. The work seemed way out of their league. Dennis offered to help them. He felt uncomfortable just watching.

They rejected the offer. Their insurance wouldn't cover it.

Dennis stood back and waited. He looked at his watch.

Finally they were finished.. He waited for them to walk out of the room; then followed them to the front door.

While they loaded the TV up into the truck, Dennis returned to his landline and called Elsa again. She said things were okay, and he told her he'd get there soon. She assured him everything was fine and reminded him she had taken care of things before.

She was referring to last June when Nancy had died. He had taken four days off. He had also taken some days off to help her out during her illness. 

The men returned, and Dennis opened the door for them. He signed their papers. They drove away. 

He was  a man without a TV now. He had already given away his laptop and smartphone. Months ago. He didn’t need them. He used a landline when he needed to talk to someone. If he wanted to write, he used old-fashioned snail mail. Tomorrow, he'd probably send out something to his daughter and granddaughter in Hawaii. He knew he should call them but hadn’t been in the mood. They usually didn’t have much to say to each other.

Continue to Chapter Nine

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