He Was Blocked At A Hotel Reception For His Clothes, But He Was The Owner, The Undercover Boss.

The security guard said he was only following orders, and that if she didn’t like it she should complain to the supervisor. Vera said that the service area was her responsibility and that she would take care of the rest.

The security guard left, saying that the old man was now her responsibility, and she can have it her way. Vera approached the man, introduced herself and asked his name.

He replied, closing his eyes and putting his head in his hands:

“You can call me Stanley.”

Vera promptly took a white pill from her pocket and offered it to him.

She said:

“Does your head hurt?”

“Take this, you’ll feel better.”

The old man thanked her and the woman said her shift was over and she was waiting for her husband to come and get her. Meanwhile, a couple of cleaning ladies entered the service area and saw Vera with the man, who besides his advanced age, simple clothes, worn shoes and unshaven beard, now was wrinkled and unkempt.

They didn’t waste any time and teased her colleague, saying that they knew her husband wasn’t the most capable man on earth, but that to change him for that ancient man was already too much, she was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Vera replied:

“Well, how funny you two are, aren’t you?”

“Get back to work!”

Stanley wasn’t offended and even found the maids’ audacity amusing, but he also noticed that Vera was very embarrassed. The cleaning ladies went away laughing and Stanley wanted to know what that comment about her husband not being a “capable person” meant.

Vera took a deep breath and began to tell the story. Her husband, Cristian, was now physically handicapped after losing his leg in a hit-and-run accident.

A driver ran a red light and hit Cristian with the front of his car as he was crossing the street. The accident shattered his leg.

He was attended by the EMT’s and had to be taken urgently to surgery. The doctors tried their best, but his leg was beyond saving and it had to be amputated.

Of course Cristian was not happy with this, but he did not despair. Vera said that despite everything, he was grateful to have survived, and that he believed he still had a promising future.

Cristian’s youth had been difficult. He never knew his father, and his mother died of cancer when he was a teenager.

He spent a long time living in foster care. He finished school and started working where he met Vera and with difficulty they pooled their monthly income to live together in a very small and simple house on the outskirts of town.

They had no children. Apart from that modest residence, the couple’s only valuable possession was a nice car that they had bought with four years of hard work and sacrifice.

The husband used the car to work as a driver and at that moment he would be arriving soon to pick up his wife at work.

Stanley accompanied Vera to the service area exit, where the security guard had wanted to kick him out only minutes before. Vera invited him to meet her husband and their house.

Stanley did not expect this and was unresponsive at first. He was exhausted and had not solved the situation at the hotel yet.

But he thought it might be a good idea to get to know the couple better and then return. When Cristian arrived, the two of them got into the car and drove towards the house on the outskirts of town.

Vera’s husband was a really nice guy, he knew how to talk and didn’t find the sudden friendship between Stanley and Vera strange. He was already used to the lightning fast friendships that occurred from time to time with friendly passengers.

During the trip, Cristian never once complained about life, which kept an air of lightness between the three of them. At most he commented that he had lower back pain, but he didn’t know if it was because of the accident or because he spent the whole day sitting and driving.

He said jokingly:

“I think I need to walk more.”

And Stanley laughed, disarmed by the man’s humor. Stanley realized that he hadn’t felt this loose and at ease with someone in years.

He was able to rest at Vera and Cristian’s house and never stopped talking with them. Soon, the hours flew by.

Vera thought that the old man might not have anywhere else to go and invited him to spend the night. Stanley accepted and slept on the old sofa in the living room.

The next day, he got up and tried to fix his hair and shirt with his bare hands, refusing Vera’s offer to iron his clothes. Stanley simply asked Cristian to drop him back at the hotel, since Vera was going there as well.

Stanley and Vera entered through the service area. Vera didn’t say anything to Stanley, but she was afraid that he might get kicked out again or maybe something worse, since Howard, the supervisor, might call the police this time.