My first day back in the office and we have a tragedy in the neighborhood.
Two doors to the North of TLC Treatment Clinic is a small shoe repair shop operated by a Latino gentleman named Fabian. He's been there for many years and has several steady clients. After all, there aren't many shoe repair shops in our area. It seems that people would rather throw the old ones away or into a donation bin and buy new ones, rather than repair the old ones. In any event, Fabian had steady customers who kept him quite busy.
But Fabian was more than a shoe repair man. He was a friend to all of his neighboring merchants. He had a hearty greeting for us as he arrived at the office in the morning. I saw him quite often in the back parking lot as he arrived to work, and as he headed home for the day. He had several family members and at times they would pick him up from work. We would always give each other a wave whenever we encountered one another,
A few years ago we had a scare when he suffered a stroke and went home to Mexico to recover. He was gone for several months then returned to work once he recovered. We were happy to see him.
Today, when we saw the police units in front of his shop we assumed that he'd suffered another stroke. But when we saw the police tape cordoning off the area a rumor started that his passing might have been something more than natural-that he may have been murdered. That bothered us all because he was one of the sweetest and kindest people we knew. I'm sure the police will resolve his death, but it's hard to fathom why someone would take the life of someone who was so kind to everyone.
May he rest in peace...
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