Fiction: Not the end of the world

This month's Words for Wednesday's is provided by Elephant's Child over here. This week's prompts are: wonderful, resilient, worse, pain, valid And/or this image:

Fiction: Not the end of the world

Henry woke up to find the world had changed. Pulling the curtains apart, he looked up at the sky through the windows. The double rainbow was something he had only seen once with his wife Patty. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. If Patty were here, she would say how wonderful and then she would make a wish and made him do the same thing. Then he would wish for all his wishes to come true and she would tell him that's selfish. He would just chuckle and say a wish is a wish.
    Rain started beating against the glass. He knew Patty would again have something good to say even if a tornado came around. She was a resilient optimist up until the end. Compared to her, he was the worse kind of pessimist. The kind who found pain a valid truth to life. Or else he would find an excuse to be grumpy.
    But something had changed. Usually, his grumpiness would appear and he would have to try to keep in a good mood. He rarely woke up happy these days. He turned away from the window and went to the kitchen.
    Soon, he was nibbling on a toasted egg sandwich and sipping hot, black tea. Then he noticed something odd. He paused to listen. It was too quiet. Living in an apartment between two others had been a necessary move but even after ten years, he still found the thin walls vexing. On his left, there was no sound of the Johnson's expensive coffee maker. On his right, the loud music Weathersby usually played to offset Johnson's coffee maker wasn't present either.
    He got up and took the few steps toward the front door and opened it. Looking left and then right, he spotted a For Sale sign in one of Weathersby's windows. That punk had stayed in his apartment even when it had caught on fire which it did last week. There was no way he would move. Across the street, where there were lines of houses, people were outside walking about without umbrellas even while rain fell. They were holding their phones up and looking up as if waiting for something. There were also some leaning out their windows and doing the same thing. Henry had seen these people before and none of them ever looked as confused or frustrated as they did now.
    He returned inside and cleared away his breakfast like he always did on Sunday mornings. Then he thought he should check his phone. He picked it up off the counter. The phone's screen was blank. He plugged in to charge. An hour later, he tried the phone again but it wouldn't turn on. Technology had always perplexed him but he knew if a device didn't turn on, it meant something was wrong. Frustrated, he left the phone on the counter and sat down on his couch and picked up the remote. But the television was not working either. He turned the lights off and on but it was fine. He dug out the radio from the cabinet beneath the television and turned it on. There were news of some type of attack and now digital devices such as computers, phones and anything similar weren't working. There were talks of global deactivation of satellite dishes. Didn't radios rely on satellites? But as he listened, he heard many assurances that it wasn't the end of the world and that there was no need to panic. Though he wasn't good at thinking positive, he wasn't prone to panicking either. At that moment, he didn't think it was so bad. Sure he was missing a few phone calls and emails and shows that he probably would have given up watching but that's fine. He turned off the radio and heard something he had never heard before: silence. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
    Then there was a knock at his door. Henry would have preferred people used the doorbell. With a slight irritation, he opened the door. There was Weathersby wearing his white robe opened to his purple with white clouds pajamas. He was smiling and holding a potted clementine tree. Henry hadn't seen Weathersby liked this but then again, he hadn't seen the man much. Weathersby was at least 30 years younger than Henry's 56. "Hello, neighbor. I just came by to apologize for playing my music so loud. It was a bad decision on my part and no fault is yours. I'm sorry also for yelling at you through the walls and also for banging on it when you played your television a tad too loud but again, it was all my fault." He thrusted the tree toward Henry. "Here's a tree to replace the plant I knocked over a month ago when I thought you were the one who stole my package which by way, was a delay by the post office. I'm so sorry about that. Will you forgive me?" He held out his hand.
    Henry just stared at Weathersby. Had the man gone insane? Henry shifted the tree to one hand and took Weathersby's hand and shook it and said, "Sure, I forgive you."
    "You are a grand fella, Mr. Henry. Thanks! And don't worry, I'll be moving out in a day or two." Then Weathersby returned to his apartment.
    Out on the streets, a white truck with signs stating the end of the world was passing by. A man was standing in the bed with a megaphone and making announcements: "Repent now! God will forgive all your sins..." Henry sighed and closed his front door.
    A while later as Henry put down the book he was reading to prepare for lunch, there was another knock on his door. Why people chose not to use the doorbell was annoying to him. He flung the door opened and there were the Johnsons looking a little less neat and orderly. Mr. Johnson grinned. "Hello, neighbor, we just want to give you this for damaging your windows when we remodeled the balcony. And also for all the nosies with our coffee maker. I hope you'll forgive us." He held out a bottle of wine and a piece of paper which as Henry glanced down at it, was a check for a thousand dollars.
    Henry looked up at Mr. Johnson. "Are you joking?"
    Mrs. Johnson was smiling. "Of course not. Take it. We owe you." Then she gave him a pat on his arm.
    Mr. Johnson placed the bottle and paper into Henry's hands and then he and his wife returned to their apartment. They had been saying they did nothing wrong so what's all this?
    Henry returned inside. Someone was in his apartment - a man in a white suit with a bow tie. He was flipping through a book by the bookshelf. "Who the hell are you?" said Henry.
    The man put the book back on the shelf. "I'm Gab, an angel. Well, that's just a formal title. I'm actually your guardian. I'm here to take you to your wife, Henry."
    "Oh. Can it wait until lunch? I had a special on turkey on rye. Got it this morning." Henry set down the bottle and check beside Weathersby's tree on the coffee table. Then he sat on his couch. There were no other seatings. He lived alone and never liked company.
    Gab nodded. He might be in his early 30's or late 50's, it was hard to tell with the white hair and white beard. "Yes. Actually, you have about a year to enjoy your life before you need to go. I just came to give you an advance notice."
    "Uh-huh. I don't suppose those people who came by were your doing, Gab?" Henry tilted his head at the wine bottle and tree.
    "Yes, we did that. And more."
    "More? Like the computer thing?"
    "It was one of your wishes, remember? You wanted people to be less depending on machines and more on each other. You said if a machine does a man's job, the man might as well not live. We do like to fulfill our client's wishes before they leave this life behind." Gab smiled though it was hard not to think Santa with that beard and those round cheeks.
    "Well, what about winning the lotto?"
    "Oh, you've never wanted that, Henry. You only thought that when you didn't have money for Patty's hospital bill. And don't worry, everything will return as before after you go. "
    "Won't my neighbors remember what they did?"
    "They will think it's a dream. It's all part of the service." Gab smiled again.
    "That's... Well, very nice of you. Thank you."
    "You are welcome. Do you have any questions for me?" Gab tucked his hands behind his back.
    "No, I don't think so. Well, just one question: Are you for real?"
    Gab laughed quietly. "I'm not asking you to do anything nor am I asking you to trust me. When I return, you will know for certain if I'm for real or not."
    "You mean I don't have to do anything?"
    Gab shook his head. "Not a thing. Just do what you like. In fact, every day you wake up, you will have a good day no matter what."
    Henry nodded. That sounded like paradise. It wasn't as if he had anything to lose even if he trusted this Gab wasn't lying.
    "If nothing else, I shall return in a couple of months. Stay happy, Henry." Gab blinked out of existence.
    Henry took a glance at his surrounding. Nothing was different and yet— Why wasn't he upset? But what was to get upset about? It wasn't the end of the world, not really. He got up, picked up the book and walked toward the kitchen for lunch. He read while he ate. Patty had always said it was bad for his digestion but he didn't need to worry about that anymore. Afterward, he made a list of all the things he wanted to do and did them.
    On the last day, Henry sat on his couch and waited for Gab. He had never enjoyed life more aside when Patty was alive. It was amusing to watch his neighbors fretted about the lack of technology. And people being all nice to him was something he didn't quite get use to but he got a lot of laughs. He leaned back and looked up. Turning the couch to face the windows was the first thing he did after he made his list. The curtains were wide opened. There was another double rainbow. He smiled.