Pascal Roberts exhaled as he awoke.  Stretched his abdomen and let out a warrior cry as he greeted the morning sun.  The sun was beaming through the window.  The light revealed hidden dust balls in an otherwise spotless room.  The sunlight belied the blistery weather and the oak floors provided a reminder that Pascal Roberts was still in New Hampshire.  As the sleep fell out of his eyes, he watched as a sparrow attempted to carry a comically sized twig into the eve of the roof.   ” I know how you feel Buddy.” he said as sat up rubbing his crotch and then quickly striding towards the bathroom.

Pascal did indeed relate to the ambition of the sparrow.  He smirked as he saw the twig fall unceremoniously to the frozen earth.  “Wow – took me 10 years to learn that lesson.”  He said as he officially resigned himself to another day.

Pascal quietly exhaled as he stepped in range of the relentless sensor of the automatic doors.  An impossible wave of electric heat was blown upon his head as he entered.  It disgusted him.  Every single  time.  The sensation of heat with the sudden insult to his olfactory glands returned his face into the familiar scowl that he wore all too often.  “Cold enough for you Peace?” greeted the receptionist with a fair mixture of sarcasm and sincerity.

“Martha.” he replied coldly, pleased with his own callousness.

Peace.  A nickname that had started innocently enough with a former resident.  Charles Anglebond.  The thought of Charles Anglebond removed his notorious scowl, and any observers would not have believed the appearance of wrinkles on the corners of his gray eyes, the result of years of smiling.  Mr. Anglebond came to Pascal Retirement Home when he finally closed the doors on his bait & tackle shop and officially entered his golden years.  He saw right through the grimace, he saw a man searching for Peace in a cold, sleepy town.  Although his golden years were more like golden months, the two had an instant kinship.  Charles would always proclaim “Rest in Peace!” as Pascal entered or exited a room.  This of course caught on, as people sought a way to relate to the seemingly permanently agitated man.