My Friend Jack

This is the story of Jack Burroughs. It might be Borrows, I don't know. I've never seen his name in writing. Come to think of it, there's no guarantee that it is his real name either.

Everything I tell you is what I've seen, heard and been told. Other than what I've personally watched, there is no guarantee any of it is true. However, there was no reason for anyone to lie. Nobody gained anything from it.

I met Jack about 7 years ago. One day, he just walked into our little expat bar, in the middle of nowhere of the Philippines. He was young by comparison. Mid to late 40s then, but he stood out because he was the nicest and happiest guy in the place.

Jack was a drinker. He went at it like there was a prize to be won. If anything, he got even happier when he drank. Always courteous and generous to the bar tender and waitresses. Eventually the corner stool became his reserved seat.

He would hold court from his corner. Entertaining everyone with witty stories, humorous jokes and bar tricks. Anyone having problems found a sympathetic ear and a willing hand. I lost count of how many people he helped out of a jam. One call, and Jack rode in like superman.

Everyone loved Jack. Of course, everyone in the bar knew one of the waitresses fancied him. Apparently everyone but Jack. No matter how hard Eden tried, she just couldn't catch his eye. It's not like he wasn't nice to her, he just never showed any romantic attraction whatsoever. When he was drunk, he would call her "Jasmine" sometimes and look at her like she had hung the moon. He would deny it the next day when he was sober, but he never took any action whatsoever.

I would describe Jack as a somewhat gentle giant / big ol teddy bear type. Not the biggest guy, but 6 feet and 2 inches of work hardened muscle. However despite his size, I only saw him get mad once. An enormous Aussie refused to let go of Jack's favorite 90 pound waitress. I literally watched Jack's ears perk up like a lion when it had spotted it's prey as she was trying to get him to let go of her. Then, after she screamed at the Aussie that he was hurting her, Jack turned into a beast.

The Aussie easily had 4 inches and at least 80 pounds on Jack, but he never even saw him coming. It was the fastest and most brutal beating I'd ever witnessed in person. So much so that the Aussie had to ask who had whooped him when he regained consciousness.

That's just how Jack was. You could say and do anything to him, and he just shrugged it off. But if you laid a finger on one of his friends, you met the beast.

It wasn't all give for Jack. I never stayed until closing time, but I understand the waitresses took turns walking Jack's drunk ass back to his closet sized apartment every night after he passed out. Everyone watched out for each other. The waitresses called him "kuya" which means older brother.

This brings me to the events of this past week. On Saturday, I walked to our favorite little beach side bar and asked our devoted bartender where Jack was. It wasn't like him to miss a night. She pointed to the beach.

I found Jack sitting at the edge of the water, drinking and watching the sunset. He seemed down, so I asked him what was wrong.

"I'm tired Billy." He replied. He never called me Bill. Just Billy.

"I'm tired of pretending it never happened. Pretending everything is ok. Pretending I'm not hurting." He slowly rolled out in his southern accent.

"But you're always happy." I argued with him. "You're the nicest guy at the bar."

"It's all fake." He snorted. "I act that way so people won't ask me what's wrong. Nobody wants to listen to me complaining. I don't need anybody's sympathy, but the truth is I'm in pain."

I told him I'd listen to him, and I meant it. I told him I wanted to know his story. I collect stories. At my age, it's all I have left. So he told me. He told me everything.

Jack grew up in foster care. It struck me as pretty fucked up to not even be wanted by your own mother, but Jack never used it as an excuse. He told me about his high school sweetheart. They lived together for 9 years. He was young but truly loved her.

One day, Jack came home and she declared that she had met another man. Of course, it broke his heart. Emotionally knocked down and bloodied, Jack managed to get back on his feet somehow. There is no doubt in my mind that it took a lot out of him.

The rebound relationship paired him with an older woman who fucked him like a maniac. She couldn't get enough of Jack's youthful energy and happy disposition. Eventually the flame did die out though and they went their separate ways. Jack was sure she had moved on before they actually broke up, but it didn't matter. She had moved on nevertheless. Yes, it hurt Jack something terrible, but somehow he got back up again. He was resilient if nothing else.

He took the blame for both failures. He said he worked too much, didn't put in enough effort or wasn't there enough. It didn't matter. He said entirely his fault. I didn't believe that for a minute. It's just like Jack to fall on someone else's dagger. He admitted that he fell into a deep depression after that.

Then one day, completely by chance, he received a message from someone completely unlike anyone he had ever dated before. A filipina woman named Jasmine. She was beautiful and sweet and seemed to adore Jack.

"I did everything right this time Billy." Jack told me with deep sorrow. "I was there for her. I never let her down. I never held back."

Jasmine was a minute away from being homeless when Jack replied to her first message. Despite barely knowing her, Jack rode to the rescue. Yes, he was infatuated with the woman. I could hear it in his voice. She became his happiness.

He visited her 3 times in the Philippines before deciding to get her a visa. The week she received it, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. If had not been for Jack, she would have died. There's no safety net in the Philippines. If you can't pay, you just suffer.

Instead, he went to her side and got her the best care available. Surgery, months of radiation and other treatments. All paid for by Jack. He never flinched. Complete unwavering support, start to end. When she was weak, he carried her around on his back. When she was tired, he massaged her pain away so she could sleep. I'd fight any man who said Jack didn't give it his all.

When she was finally better, he brought her to the US and married her. She was everything Jack had hoped for. A sweet, loving wife plus a tiger in the bedroom. Jack said her favorite word was "more". As in "can I have more sex please?"

She tried anything Jack suggested, and even thought up a few of her own things to try. Life couldn't be better. Jack actually wondered if she was seriously trying to kill him. Literally fuck him to death.

After two and a half years of perfect harmony, Jasmine got her green card. A permanent resident. What Jack didn't know was, that is the magic ticket. She no longer needed him to stay in the US.

"I remember the day so well." Jack explained. "I came home and found her boyfriend loading her stuff up in his truck. She had left me."

There was a lot more to the story, but Jack wouldn't spill the beans. Some online research had led me to a suspicion that she had an abortion and had another husband somewhere, but Jack never hinted at the other bad stuff she had been involved with in her past. I know it's cheesy, but it perfectly fits the lyrics to a song I've heard:

"You call me strong, you call me weak but still your secrets I will keep. You took for granted all the times I never let you down.

You stumbled in and bumped your head if not for me you'd be dead. I picked you up, put you back on solid ground."

She literally owed Jack her life, but she threw him away like a piece of trash for something younger and flashier.

Jack couldn't describe the pain he was in. He didn't need to. I saw it in his eyes. He wasn't just knocked down again, he was truly broken. He wasn't able to get up this time.

"I dug into it. To see what had happened. I thought maybe I could fix things." He explained as the hope left his voice.

"I stopped looking after finding the 5^th guy she had cheated on me with. There was no point in going any further. I crawled into a bottle but I still managed to work for 4 more years after that." He admitted. "I was in a constant daze. Completely numb. I didn't even know what day it was most of the time."

He said there were so many signs he either missed or ignored. He felt like a fool. She had played him like a symphony. I will never understand why she did that to him.

"The week before i arrived here, Jasmine had text me." Jack wistfully remembered. "After 4 long years, she wanted me back. I guess her latest boyfriend had dumped her, and she thought I was dumb enough to take her back. I never returned her message. I didn't want to ruin my memories. The Jasmine I had in my memory was the sweet, loving girl I married. The one I loved. I didn't want to replace her with the woman Jasmine had become. I took it as a sign that it was time for me to escape to here."

Jack's last words to me before I left him there was that he came to this place 7 years ago because it was where he first met Jasmine in person. It was a special place to him. The alpha and the omega. I didn't know at the time that it meant the beginning and the end. I missed that clue.

At he request, I left him there in his chair with his feet in the water. He said he was going to finish his bottle and go to bed.

The next day, when the tide went back out, we found Jack's chair, half buried in the sand, but no sign of Jack. He was gone.

Just today, I found out Jack's doctor had told him he was dying a week earlier. Failed liver and kidneys shutting down. The ocean may have gotten his body, but he drank himself to death and died from a broken heart.

So, today we all raised a glass to Jack. I hope he found his happiness again. That is the story of Jack Borroughs, my friend.