Thee And Me
The youngest, however, happily skipped up to him and brushed off his britches.
"Hello Sir," chirped the boy. "It's been so long since you came we thought you passed away. Either that, or..." He feigned an exaggerated gag. "I don't want to even think about it."
Chuckling, John followed the boy, Christopher, down the now silent lane to the last house on the left where a small woman tended to a measly vegetable patch. Looking around at the small village which had become a ghost town in his presence, he felt a familiar ache reawaken in his bones. This is the normal reaction, he reminded himself. It is kindness that is the oddity.