Fin by A.R.C. (ink ebook reader TXT) 📕

I was scheduled on the program to do a song and I was going to sing his favorite hymn but it wouldn't be perfect. As my name was called, I grabbed my guitar and headed for the mic.

"Steve was always opstimistic about life." I started saying. "Doesn't matter what he went through or what he was going through. He said the Lord was putting him through yet again, another test. 'And sure as hell, I'm going to pass this one!'" I said imitating him the best I can. The people who remembered him saying that, laughed.

"And this sound as we're doing now-the laughter, that's what he was about. We lost a young man with high hopes, we lost a brother, a friend. But he wouldn't want this kind of mood at his funeral let alone that it's raining a little so I hope you all don't mind but instead of me singing his favorite hymn, I'm going to sing his next favorite song. This is for you Steve"... (@)


(Sometimes we fall down, can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's to late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
And we could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you,
What would you wish you would've done

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbye
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution,
There'll no one on the line, yeah

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..


We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

You never know a good thing till it's gone
You never see a crash till it's head on
Why do we think we're right when we're dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it's gone

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying, oh, like we're dying..

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell them that we love them
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying..


-*Kris Allen "Live Like We're Dying"

)


And then it occured to me and everyone else that as I sung the song and people who knew it song along...The sun itself appeared and shone out through the rain. For that moment everything it touched was gold.


***********************************************


*COLLIN*


I was glad that I had gotten the chance to meet Steve after all and I was going to miss him. I questioned the weather in the beginning hoping that the water wouldn't be as bad as it have been coming during the evenings. It hasn't been raining during the days for a long while come to think of it. So this was a twist for us all. I remember hearing a saying that when it rains at funerals that means the person is in heaven.

I noticed the homeless man across the way attending at someone elses funeral and questioned that as well. I'm not sure if he had seen me walking with the group that was going to Steve's own but then I got my answer when he saluted me. It turned out to be a more than a decent service after all full of a small miracle. As Mark stuck it out and went through the song-and he looked like he was going to burst out and turn into water himself-it was as if Steve appeared in spirit and the song brought him happiness with a touch of sunlight.

No, I didn't know Steve for so long but I will miss him. People like him are much needed in the world. I thought about where my life had been before and where I'm standing now. I thought about Rod and the time that I had wasted spending my youth with his black heart. I was beginning to see what the homeless man was talking about. After the funeral service, we gathered at Jenna's family home for the food and the socializing and then after I went on my way to head back home.

As I got to my block, Rod was outside sitting in front of my stoop, leaning back as if he was on the beach waiting for a Bahama Mama. I knew he was waiting for me because ever since that night when he was talking down on the woman who got hit my the bus, I've been avoiding him. So when I seen him I made up mind to walk like I was going somewhere else. There was a chance that he would be still sitting there by the time I get back but I know Rod well. His way is always systimatic so when I arrive home, he will be somewhere with the rest of them doing no good.

He seen me walk across the street. "COLLIN! COLLIN I KNOW YOU HEAR ME OVER HERE! OH, NOW YOU GONNA KEEP IGNORING ME LIKE YOU BEEN DOING?! YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME CUZ YOU HANG WITH THEM BITCH ASS CHRISTIAN FOLK?! YOU FROM THE SAME PLACE WHERE I'M FROM! YOU AIN'T NOBODY AND YOU AIN'T SHIT!" He continued his ranting and raving and I kept walking as far as my feet could take me to get away from him. By the time where I noticed I walked ten blocks I seen a t.v. repair shop that displayed all kinds od t.v.s I stood there glancing at each screen that had the count down counting the minutes, hours, and seconds of each of our lives. Such a sight makes you think about reality real quick and decide what you're going to do... (@)


(Tick tock, hear the clock countdown
Wish the minute hand could be rewound
So much to do and so much I need to say
Will tomorrow be too late?

Feel the moment slip into the past
Like sand through an hourglass
In the madness, I guess, I just forget
To do all the things I said

Time passes by, never thought I'd wind up
One step behind, now I've made my mind up

Today, I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
Gonna learn to forgive and forget
'Cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it

Today, I'm gonna love my enemies
Reach out to somebody who needs me
Make a change, make the world a better place
'Cause tomorrow could be one day too late
One day too late, one day too late

Tick tock, hear my life pass by
I can't erase and I can't rewind
Of all the things I regret the most I do
Wish I'd spent more time with you

Here's my chance for a new beginning
I saved the best for a better ending
In the end I'll make it up to you
You'll see, you'll get the very best of me

Time passes by, never thought I'd wind up
One step behind, now I've made my mind up

Today, I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
Gonna learn to forgive and forget
'Cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it

Today, I'm gonna love my enemies
Reach out to somebody who needs me
Make a change, make the world a better place
'Cause tomorrow could be one day too late

Your time is running out
You're never gonna get it back
So make the most of every moment
Stop saving the best for last

Today, I'm gonna try a little harder
Gonna make every minute last longer
Gonna learn to forgive and forget
'Cause we don't have long, gonna make the most of it

Today, I'm gonna love my enemies
Reach out to somebody who needs me
Make a change, make the world a better place
'Cause tomorrow could be one day too late

One day too late, one day too late
One day too late, one day too late


-*Skillet "One Day Too Late"

)


***********************************************


*HONOR*


The clock count-down counted down to two days left...and I felt like one foot was already in heaven and the other here in reality. Justin and I have been spending time together as if we have the ability to stop time itself just to be together longer. He has intreged me deeply and I find that scary. To the people who still takes notice what's around them, I feel they find our union mitch-matched; an uncommon accident for the accidentals. Like they were saying What a joke. Deaf and blind. There's gotta be an untold joke about that waiting to be born.

And then there are times where Justin is so in tune to me, like he's in my head or when we are close my body actions becomes a pulse only for him to feel and he knows exactly how to control it with a steady beat. No man can't have that type of power. But he has been letting me see things for the first time-the blind leading the blind. All of it is crazy! The man I have been dreaming about from the first time I seen him is now seeing me for who I am and who I can be. It's too much-no. It's to good to be true. The radio was on as I was pacing the floor in my apartment trying to get a grip of what's real while I still had the time and chance. The song that came on was like it was speaking to me... (@)


(If this is a question
Is maybe a lie?
If yes doesn't mean it
Does when lessen why
You are held in a queue
Someone will be with you shortly
Say I'm wrong
You decide
I