Chapter Two

“Hold the door, please.”

The sound of a young woman’s voice reached Uncle Uzzi’s sensitive ears as he stood just inside the elevator of the upscale complex where he had recently bought a condo.

The young woman was breathing quite heavily, and she struggled with half a dozen shopping bags. Uncle Uzzi noticed she was trying to take a puff from an inhaler, and sympathy overwhelmed him. Uzzi rushed forward to take some of the burdens out of the woman’s hands.

“Allow me, dear,” he said, and the pretty stranger nodded, finally able to draw two quick puffs of much needed medicine into her lungs.

She held them in, eyes closed, while two tears rolled down her cheeks from the strain of trying to breathe. Uzzi waited, not pressing any buttons until the stranger could inhale and exhale normally again.

“Thank you so much. Darn asthma,” the young woman replied. “Oh, that is better.”