40,000 Men and Women Die Everyday. Don't Fear the Reaper...

Previously, Chapter 32: Here Comes the Rain Again...

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After working in a family plumbing business, being just another employee for a big plumbing shop really sucked. Then there was the cold shoulder I was getting from Susan and her family. Through it all, I couldn't help but think about Irv. I wanted to go talk to him, but I wasn't sure he wanted to talk to me…

As an apprentice for Wright's Plumbing, I was limited to banging up baseboard heat, drilling holes, and setting up the copper heat drops. I cleaned pipe and fittings, and did whatever the licensed plumbers on the job told me to do. At the end of the day, I was tired and frustrated, not just from the job, but with what had become of my life.

I was in my car, heat blasting, on my way home when I decided to make a U-turn and go visit Irv at the hospital in Norfolk. I pulled into the lot, shut the car off, fixed my hair, adjusted the corduroy collar on my blue denim work coat, took a deep breath, and headed in. It was about 4:30.

I told the woman at the reception desk who I was and who I was there to visit. She disappeared for a few minutes, and while she was gone I wondered if Irv was gonna let me in to see him. 

When she came back, she said, "Right this way, Sir," and then led me down the main corridor to Irv's room.

I walked into Irv's room, and he was in a hospital bed, sitting up, and wearing a blue hospital gown. As soon as our eyes met, I felt a warm, soothing rush come over me. I spent an entire year as his apprentice, staring into his eyes for direction and approval, and it was a lot like putting my feet into an old pair of comfortable slippers.

When I said, "Hey Irv," he smiled and said, "Hi Vin." 

I asked if they were treating him okay, and he said they were. Then he asked about my new job, and I told him we were doing new construction, no jobbing or remodels like we were doing. 

He started telling me about all the new houses he had roughed in working for his uncle, and later when he first went into business in '58. We talked for a couple of hours without pause, neither of us bringing up what had happened that led to my firing.

After 2 1/2 hours, I started saying goodbye. Before I left, I shook Irv's hand, and it felt exactly like it always had. Like a mitt. Years of hard work had him sporting an oversized hand with a vice-like grip that only old-school plumbers had. 

Indigenous people believe a handshake is a bridge for an energetic, aura-level exchange, rather than a simple physical greeting. Because the hands—more specifically the right hand—are considered active centers for projecting and receiving energy, a handshake symbolizes a temporary covenant, a sharing of life force, and a mutual alignment of trust between two souls.

After our handshake, and before I left Irv's side, I understood exactly what they meant.

I left feeling satisfied that I had gone to see him, but I had a weird feeling while driving home that I might not see him again. I tried to dismiss it, but I couldn't.

When I got home, Susan wasn't around, so I grabbed something to eat out of the fridge, then sat on the couch, which had also become my bed, and watched some television.

At around 9:00, Susan walked in. I was expecting the cold shoulder and for her to walk right by me, but instead, she stopped, faced me, and said, "I went to see my father after work, and he said he had a special visitor this afternoon…" 

She didn't have to say anything more. We both started crying, hugging each other for what seemed like an eternity. That's when I knew she knew I loved Irv as much as she did. 

Two weeks passed, and I was on a job when Walter Wright, the owner of Wright's Plumbing, made a surprise appearance. When he was close enough to me, he said, "Vinnie, I need to talk to you…"

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I figured I was being let go or yelled at because of the motor oil leaking from under my car onto his new driveway. But after he steered me away from any coworkers to an isolated spot, he said, "I just got a call, Vinnie. Your father died…"

I responded, "My father, or my father-in-law?"

He suddenly looked confused, and after a longer-than-normal pause, he said, "Your Father… I'll drive you back to the house so you can go home and be with your family."

I had a strained relationship with my father, but I did not want to hear that. Irv was battling cancer, and although no one gave us an exact timeline, his eventual passing was something we were all starting to come to terms with. 

Now, according to Walter, my father had died, leaving me with a lot to think about on the ride home…

Don't Fear the Reaper…

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To be continued…