Today at work an older gentleman came in with his Purple Heart hat on and wanted to cancel his wife’s phone. For purposes of caution we’ll call him Mr. Johnson.
“My wife passed away. We’d been married for over sixty years.”
I know next to nothing about military service but saw his hat, so I asked him.
“Were you in the service?”
He pointed at his hat and told me the name and number of his battalion during World War II. He’d served in the Army. He talked about his wife falling ill suddenly and taking her to the Hospital. Newport Hospital couldn’t help her so they took her to a Hospital in Providence.
“I called up my Nephew in Pennsylvania who’s a doctor and he came up and talked with the Doctor in Providence.”
They couldn’t help her. Any of the treatment options would cause just as much harm as letting her continue to bleed.
“She wanted to go home. They said she had to go through hospice.”
Mr. Johnson ended up getting his wife out of hospice in about a day and she passed away at home as the doctors couldn’t do anything for her.
“My friend who served with me went to the VA Hospital and they told him they’d give him 10% coverage. He said: ‘You can take that 10% and shove it up your ***.'”
After the transaction was finished Mr. Johnson stayed at the counter for a while and talked for a bit.
“I don’t need a phone. If I don’t recognize the number I’m not going to pick it up. And any of my relatives, they’re either dead or I’ve got nothing to do with them (Mr. Johnson winked and smiled as he said this).”
“I never used the phone except for to call people. I want to keep it as a souvenir.”
Mr. Johnson hesitated for a moment.
“My wife and I were married for sixty-seven years. How often do you see that any more?”
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