The old man and the redhead

If you live in a small town in Germany, you will be surrounded by lots of old folks, and you will hear their stories.

The elderly man was what we call spry. His step still had bounce, he was not stooped like the generation of his parents inevitably was.

The fault lines of life on his face were not terribly deep, and other than brief moments of that distant gaze which you only find in elderly people or in those younger ones who had seen horrors, he did not look all that old.

He had just returned from a hospital trip, he'd taken a neighbor to the hospital. He had pointed out years ago that his hospital shuttle trips exceeded the number of trips to the shopping mall.

We had finished the admission paperwork at the front desk, spent another fifteen minutes waiting for them to call us up and were on the way to the elevators in the back of the building.

The tree of us, him, his partner and me, looked a bit lost, I guess. Right at that moment, a woman turns the corner and stops. Can I help you, she asked with a friendly smile. She was a gorgeous redhead, maybe in her late thirties with a riveting smile.

Let me show you to the elevator, she said, and we turned and followed her. There, she said, and, with a smile and a goodbye, continued on her way.

I can't believe three grown people manage to get lost in such a small place, I quipped as we waited for the elevator. I turned slightly and saw the doctor, she was the head of the internal medicine department, I had gleaned that off her badge, go up the stairs across the hallway. 

I smiled at her, and she returned my smile.

The elevator arrived, we got in. At that moment, I felt I might well have floated up to the third floor, no elevator needed. The big smile of the pretty redhead, a smile just for me, would have taken me to the top floor and beyond.

After we had delivered our patient, we took the stairs back down. Then, on the last flight to the ground floor, the image of the cute doctor came back. 

And with it came the realization. 

That had not been a pretty redhead doctor flirting with me. 

It had been a seasoned hospital professional helping three lost old folks find their way to the elevator.

As he uttered this last sentence, I could see the brief distant gaze. And then it was over.