The Seer

Benny had been running the produce stand at the corner of Fifth and Grant for the past fifteen years. He had several customers that had been coming in regularly since the beginning and many of them still acted as if he were deaf as well as blind. They would say things around him that they wouldn’t say around a waiter or another sighted person. They also confided things that they wouldn’t ordinarily share with stranger, as if there was a special confidentiality conferred by his blindness.
Jenna had been coming to the stand every weekday morning for the past five years. She was approaching now; he could tell by the change in the scent of the salt air, it was now tinged with lilac. “Jenna, what a lovely morning for some fresh squeezed orange juice,” he commented, taking the three oranges from her and putting them into a small paper bag.
“Right as usual,” she said with a smile, “how can you tell what I have in my hand over all the other smells on the stand?”
He just smiled and handed her the bag. “A dollar fifty, please,” he wasn’t counting the orange she had slipped into her tote bag.
She handed him six quarters, patted his hand and said her usual “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“No, you won’t,” he smiled and turned away before she could comment.

Jenna raised her eyebrows at Benny as he turned away to help another customer. Strange, what he had said. He was always at the stand, hadn’t taken a day off in the past several years as far as she could remember. Maybe he was finally taking a vacation. She wondered momentarily if the stand would be open tomorrow. Maybe she should have bought a few more oranges just in case. She never missed a day of fresh orange juice. She was obsessed with getting all the proper vitamins to keep her skin young and beautiful. Cosmetic surgery could only accomplish so much.
Well, at least she had the one extra orange.
She shrugged and headed around the corner to pick up her prescription at the pharmacy. Dr. Logan had prescribed some new eye drops to take down the ugly puffiness caused by her allergies. She hoped they worked.


Jake looked forward to his chats with Benny. He had been bringing coffee to Benny everyday at lunch for what seemed like forever, long before he and Jenna had been married.
“Hello, Jake!” Benny called as Jake approached. Jake knew he could smell the coffee and wasn’t surprised that the blind man could identify him from several feet away.
“Hey, Benny,” Jake replied and held out the cup to him. Benny took it and they headed behind the stand where they could sit and relax.
“How’s Jenna doing?” Benny asked. He knew that Jake and Jenna had their problems and was always willing to lend an ear.
“No new surgeries scheduled,” Jake sighed, “but now her allergies are making her eyes ‘ugly’ so the doctor has prescribed drops.”
“Well, maybe they will help,” Benny offered.
“I wish you could see her Benny. She is beautiful, always was. I don’t understand why she is so unhappy with every little detail of her looks. I try to support her by getting her any and all treatments, surgeries, whatever she wants, but I can never make her happy.”
“I think that someday soon she will realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that beholder is you. Then she won’t take your support for granted,” Benny predicted.


Benny had never mentioned to Jake that Jenna came to his stand every morning, and apparently Jenna had never mentioned it either. He figured that she had no idea that Jake went there every day too.
Benny knew a lot of things that other people didn’t know. He knew that the man Jenna often came to the stand with in the mornings wasn’t her husband, though he often had his arm around her and would whisper lurid suggestions into her ear as she tried to concentrate on picking out her fruit.
Benny knew about Jenna’s allergies and her complaints about her puffy eyes. He had heard her lover suggest prescription eye drops and he knew what pharmacy she used. He knew that the pharmacist accepted forged prescriptions for pain medications. He believed Jake deserved better and he decided to use his knowledge for the greater good.

The next morning, as Benny had predicted, Jenna was not at the fruit stand. It was a shame that Jake also wouldn’t be there for their lunchtime coffee but Benny knew that now Jenna would need him more than ever before. He knew that soon, Jenna would no longer be taking him for granted. In fact, she would be relying on him for the simplest of tasks, such as picking up that glass of fresh orange juice that she drank so religiously every morning.
It would seem ironic that the prescription eye drops she had used to combat a little puffiness caused by her allergies had caused an allergic reaction that had destroyed her corneas. It was indeed rare, but no one would look to closely into it. The pharmacist had paid his dues to Benny and Benny always kept his word. Now Jenna would begin to pay hers. She would no longer be sneaking extra fruit into her bag.