Today I would love to tell you about Frankie, my very own angel. Telling this story comes because of this post I read https://example30147.wordpress.com/ . Okay… here goes:
Long long ago, there was this… Oops, this is not a fable or fiction, but a true story.
In the 1990’s we lived in Welkom in the very flat province of the Orange Free State in South Africa, we now live in the very full of mountains Eastern Cape province of South Africa. I used to go and get my bread and milk and such at a tiny shopping center close to where we lived. There Frankie did his job. Some… ok most people would call him a beggar, but I did not see him as a beggar.
He always showed me an available place to park when he saw me coming and would stop the traffic for me to reverse and be on my way. When I came out of the shop, he carried my bags for me to my car. Now this relationship did not start up easily, because so many beggars took me for a ride because many times if I bought them bread they just dump it in the bin or disappear into the Bottle store, in front of me, some of them damage your car or threaten to kill you if you refuse to give them something. So I don’t like beggars and I don’t carry cash with me anyway.
Now Frankie was not remotely anything like that. He had lovely manners and somehow always were neat and clean even though he wore rags. Later on we started making small talk, mostly about Jesus, but later about where he lives and his girlfriend… Yes Frankie had a girlfriend and all sorts of stuff. One day I started to pull away after still chatting with Frankie through an open window, when all of a sudden he put his hand through the window… I had the fright of my life, but he only locked my door.”Madam, always remember to lock your doors and keep them locked, I want you to be safe.” Such a sweetheart.
He kept on telling me to lock my door and if I don’t remember, he will lock it for me through the window. It later on became a well remembered habit of mine to lock my car doors.I will always give him money and much more than my husband most probably knew, but I knew it was an income for him. I suspect my husband and kids also gave Frankie money while I wasn’t looking. So Frankie became part of our lives.
One time Frankie was absent and we could not find him just before the store closed that night, so we asked the owner, who by the way also always gave Frankie a little job here and there, like sweeping the pavement for money. He then told us Frankie lost the place where he lived and were sleeping behind the shop under some boxes… he never told me about it and still was just his cheery self. So we went to fetch him, dirty and hungry and took him home. We gave him a bath, something to eat and made a bed for him in the lounge. The next day we took him back and later that day after going back to ask if he was ok, he assured us he found a new home. Frankie wasn’t very clever and I know there was something medically wrong with him.
One day I stopped at a stop street right across from the Court. All of a sudden I felt someone pulling at my back door trying to get into my car. I was so afraid, but because of Frankie, my doors were locked. Strangely the two perpetrators all of a sudden just stood back with a look of horror on there faces. They then quickly turned around and ran away. When I looked in the back of my car, I saw two angels. There was no other person with me that day. This is an experience I will never forget. God’s angels always protects us, being it heavenly angels or angels in the form of our dear Frankie.
Now that is the story of our Frankie. Sometimes we would still wonder if he is ok or not or even still alive. We loved our Frankie.
I would love to hear if you have similar experiences. Just post a comment with a link to your blog, so that I can share in your experience.
Much love and kindness.
Saro
My life with dementia and bipolar disorder. 