Young Man Helps Older Man

The two men in the garage of the split level home in Colonie, a suburb of the capital of New York State, could not have been more different in most ways, and it wasn’t the wide disparity in ages that set them apart.
The young man, Mark Willett, was a twenty year old college sophomore who played on the school’s lacrosse team, and was a muscular lad who packed close to 200 pounds on his six foot frame. His hair was thick, jet black and long enough to wear in a ponytail.
The older man, Alan Murray was closer to seventy than 60, and while he too had been an athlete in his youth those days were long gone. Alan Murray’s hair was now a thinning silver grey, and while his physique had once been impressive as well, with the passing of years it had been reduced to a pale frailness and while he was still trim he now looked the part of the typical little old man perfectly.
Mr. Murray, as Mark always called him, had begun to ask the young man to come over to do various odd jobs on the pretense that the student could use money for college, but if the truth would be known he longed for the company more than anything.
Mark, on the other hand, said he was glad to do the tasks without compensation, having grown quite fond of the aging widower over the years but the retired man insisted he take the money because he had plenty. More money than tasks to do, and recently the old man had taken to inventing things that needed to be done just to have the lad over.
And when you come over looking like this, the old-timer mused as he held the step ladder and his young helper’s hip...