Fred had one of those days when things just happened like a landslide, where you never knew when and where it's coming from, how it's going to happen and how it's going to land. (Sounds like life).
In Fred's case, he was about to be homeless when it happened. His landlord gave him two weeks' notice to leave as he could not keep up with paying rent. Instead of packing his things, for the sake of procrastination, he opted to take a walk by the river.
During his walk, he approached a man (about his age) slumped in his wheelchair but found him dead. Fried tried to help push the wheelchair to find his caregiver. But while doing so, the man fell on the bank and, when he tried to lift him up, Fred fell backwards, hit his head on a rock, and the body slip off his grasp into the river. When the man's carer, Denise, saw Fred, she thought it was Albert (the dead man). Fred tried to explain what happened, but Denise helped Fred into the wheelchair and would not believe him because they looked so much alike, and Albert had dementia. She was used to him speaking without making any sense.
Long story short, Fred pretended to be Albert. And one thing led to another. Fred did not mean to keep pretending, but things got personal, and he fell in love with the people in Albert's life. It was like filling an emptiness in his own life. Even if he was pretending to be somebody else, his love and care toward others was real.
This book sort of made me think that, if I have a chance, I could pretend to be somebody else and borrow their life. I do not know whom to pick. But hopefully I would use the main force that made Fred still likeable until the end since he loved all people--even the dead and slumped Albert, waiting for someone to help him by the river.
0 Comments.