His Salvation

As I walked up the stairs into the community center, I kicked the snow off my boots and pulled my cap and gloves off, and shoved them into my pocket. I saw the "TOY DROP OFF" sign and followed the arrow down the hall. I walked up to the table with the bag containing the three toys I had bought. I didn't have a lot myself, but I always felt that it was important to give to those in need. Hopefully, three kids would have a little better Christmas because of me. The volunteer, a kind-looking woman who reminded me a little of my grandmother, took the toys and gave me a donation receipt for my taxes. "Thank you so much, sweetie," she said. "It's no problem," I said with a smile. I stepped out of the way and noticed a sign that said they were looking for pen pals for prison inmates. "Were you interested in writing an inmate?" the kind woman asked me. I thought for a second and shrugged. "Oh. Um. Sure. Why not?" She pulled out a stack of printed pages. "Are you looking to write a man or a woman?" "Um... A man," I said quietly. "We don't have a lot of those," she said as she flipped through the stack. "Oh. Here's one." She handed me the paper and I looked it over. Marvin Kellogg was his name. He was the same age as me, 30. He still had over two years to go on a ten-year sentence. I couldn't even wrap my head around going to prison at 22 years old.  The bio had some basic information. He was single, with no kids, and grew up in Detroit. It said he was looking for men for friendships or relationships. He looked a little bit rough in his picture, kind of brawny with dark hair and a mustache. He was kind of smiling, but even in the picture, his eyes looked so sad. So lonely. I knew what it was like to be lonely. I nodded at the woman and I folded up the paper and put it in my pocket. She gave me a smile. "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas to you, too." I bundled up in my coat and headed to my car to go to work. I pulled into the Corbin Tree Services parking lot a short drive later. I unlocked the door to the employee entrance and turned on the lights and made my way to my office. My dad, Gary Corbin, started Corbin Tree Services 35 years ago. We specialize in tree and stump removal, pruning, relocating, and planting. Basically, anything to do with trees. This time of year we are really busy. With all the ice damage to the trees, we get a lot of customer calls to clear fallen trees and trim branches. I work in the office, basically running the business. In addition to doing all of the accounting, I take customer calls and schedule our trucks. Dad works out in the field with the employees and works a lot with the corporate customers. I started up my PC and hung my coat up in the closet. I went to the break room and started a pot of coffee. As I left the break room, I heard the front door unlock and beep and Dad walked in. "Mornin', Danny," he said to me. "Hi, Dad." Dad clapped me on the back as he walked past to the break room. I followed him into the break room and we both got cups of coffee. "How was your weekend, son?" he asked as he leaned against the counter and sipped his coffee. I grabbed the sugar and poured a little into my coffee. "It was okay. I bought some toys for the toy drive. Um... I went to the movies... out to eat..." "By yourself?" "Yeah," I shrugged. "So?" I said defensively. "I'm just... I'm worried about you. I don't want you to go through life alone." "I'm okay, Dad. Besides, you're alone and you're happy, aren't you?" "That's different, son. I had 20 good years with your mother. And I have you." Dad put his hand on the back of my neck and squeezed, then added with a chuckle, "That's not to say that for the past 15 years, I neglected to get my 'needs' taken care of." I cringed. "Oh god, Dad. I don't want to hear about that!" We both laughed. "Son... You, uh... You met any guys to take care of your, uh..." I squirmed uncomfortably. I know it was hard for Dad to talk about guys, so he must really be worried. But I was not about to discuss my s*x life, or lack thereof, with him. "Dad, can we change the subject please?" "I'm just worried about you, Danny." "I'm okay, Dad. Honestly." "Okay," he said with a sigh. The guys started trickling in and I went and got their logs ready for the day. After everyone was dispatched, I sat down at my desk and ran the past-due notices, and got them ready to mail. I pulled Marvin's bio out of my pocket and read it over again. I grabbed a pen and a notebook and began writing. I started over a couple of times before finally getting out a simple letter. Dear Marvin, Hi. My name is Danny Corbin. I received your bio from the community center and thought I would write you. I'm also 30 years old. I work for my Dad's tree service company, running the office. It's not very glamorous or exciting, but it pays my bills and I'm good at it. I'm a single gay man. I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. I have a hard time meeting people. I find that most guys aren't interested in really getting to know you. It kind of sucks. I guess I'm afraid of getting hurt, you know? I have two stray dogs that I adopted, Harley and Bandit. They are a handful, but they are good dogs. They are both mixed breeds. Bandit is brown and kind of small and looks like some terrier and chihuahua mix maybe. Harley is a little bigger and a little fatter. I'm not sure what he is. But he's mostly black and kind of fluffy. I hope to hear from you and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. Danny I put the letter into an envelope and addressed and stamped it, then dropped it in with the outgoing mail.