Two o' clock.

Audience : Anyone willing. ( teenager - senior )
Purpose : Who do you turn to when all you lived for has parished and you have nothing to do but pass the time .

He walked to the same park, sat on the same bench, and took out the same brand of bread. He began to tear the loaf into pieces small enough for a bird and tossed them a foot away from him. Hector had been wearing the same hat and coat for twenty five years, his late wife bought them and insisted he wear them. The fedora suggested a sense of eloquence and his shined shoes made him resemble a gentleman. The birds all flocked around him and for a split second Hector smiled. As suddenly as it appeared it left, leaving a sad withered look on his once strong face. Every day in this park he could be found at precisely two o’clock in the afternoon.

On his 75th birthday he was forced to retire from his job at the local butcher shop. He was overjoyed at the prospect of staying at home with his beloved wife all day long but shortly after their Fifty fifth anniversary Hectors wife Anne passed away. All that was left for the poor old man was his slowly fading memory and the slowly deteriorating house. Anne and Hector had never had children, and he was left with no family so he began to visit the park everyday and feed the wildlife. He often remembered back on the times he and his friends would chase the pigeons and seagulls as little boys and how he cursed them while picnicking on the beach and how he would try and hit one or two with a rock now and then as a teenager. He regrets this behaviour, for these are the very beings that would come to keep him alive.

It sounds drastic but Hector relied on the bird’s everyday to give him a purpose, they provided him with a meaning. If he were to not show up one day he was aware of the fact they would find another source of food to eat and not be phased by his absence, but when he did come he was able to make their lives a little easier. All he wanted was to occupy time until he would one day join his wife, until then the birds would keep him company.