A dead phone line...

The phone connected after the first ring and the voice that answered trembled. The sales pitch ended mid sentence when I realized that the old man on the other end was tired and certainly not interested in anything i was selling. He sounded worn out and i thought about hanging up the phone. But then he asked me my name and i told him. And after a minute of listening to a silent receiver i asked if he was ok. He told me that he was exhausted and restless. He told me about his job. How he had at least ten more years in a career he never chose, but he was turning fifty tomorrow and had kids and a dog and a house he couldn't afford. He was broken and poor and floating through life in all the wrong ways. His wife hated him for being boring, his kids never called, and he didn't know if he could take one day more. "If this is what life is really like kid, get out while you still can," he said. Speechless, i held the phone and he thanked me for listening and hung up.

I left the next day in my car with a handful of cash and a bottle of water and just drove...