John died on Monday.

Rather, he was found Monday having died of natural causes at 83 alone on the floor of his studio apartment some time the prior week.

He wasn’t a great man, just an average one, but always so thankful to have a visitor. However ten months without had proved long enough to bring him to his knees and then to the floor for the last time.

He was a praying man and quite poor. He ate one meal a day and slept most of the other time. He remained indoors prohibited from seeing neighbors for fear of catching a virus he was convinced would kill him.

Ten months he was safe but at such a high cost, and there will be no funeral or memorial at which I can thank him for being my friend and where I too was perhaps his only one.

But I know he’s not alone.

There are thousands more just like him who will also pass quietly and without notice until finally found one day by a friend, the irony being that a friend is what John needed all along.