What is it with old people standing on the street corners. Not begging. Not reading. Not lost. Just standing. What's up with that? What is it is that they see that I don't? What is it that they want to see? What are they looking for? Perhaps one day I'll walk up to one of them and stand alongside them, stand there and look in the same direction, and try and find what they have found, or at least search with them. I envision a very similar scene to Colin Farrell from the movie In Bruges (watch it and you'll understand).
J: Hey [ I walk up and stand beside Old man]
Old Man: Hello...
J: [ I bury my face up to my eyes in my coat ] Man, it's cold today.
Old Man: Minus 4, minus 8 with the windchill...
J: [I know he probably checked first thing this morning just before doing the crossword over a bowl of porridge] Newspaper say that?
Old Man: Should be warmer tomorrow. Chinook, I'd say.
J: Ah. ....................................What you doin?
[not even for a second does he seem to shift his glance towards me. His eyes are fixated, yet seem to be unfocused. I realise he could be blind. Maybe he was just trying to get the mail, and ended up here all alone. Lost, but unaware of his curious circumstance. I feel bad.]
Old Man: Looking...watching....waiting.
J: For what exact---
Old Man: Shhh. You'll see.
J: [now he's got me curious. I have to know. I stand and wait...watch...look.] Umm..okay.
Suddenly, a squirrel plops out of the tree. He has a peanut in his mouth. I safely assume that this old man has been feeding this squirrel a peanut every day for several years, and that other squirrels get jealous and treat this squirrel badly because of this special treatment. A smile faintly stretches the creased and weathered skin of the old man. The squirrel cautiously approaches the road, not 15 feet from where we stand right across the street. It's like the squirrel is coming TO the man. No way. The two lock eyes briefly, then the man looks down, frowning.
J: what? what's happening?
Old Man: It's...it's time.
J: HOLY. WHAT is it time for?
Old Man: [reconfigures his facial expression into a quiet determined grimace] Just...watch.
The squirrel immediately ran out into the street, heading straight for the old man. But no--wait! There's a car coming! Stop squirrel! Old man! Dooo sommethiinnngggg! ---THWUMP
The unforgiving treads of the Jeep carried on down the road, leaving a brown lump motionless in its path, peanut a half meter away. The Old man slightly limps to the middle of the road and kneels. He reaches for the peanut, picks it up, and puts it securely in his coat pocket. I stand at the curb, glancing both ways to make sure another car doesn't make a second victim of the old man, unsure of what to do. The old man turns, and finally looks at me.
Old Man: Look up!
[I look up]
Old Man: You see them?
J: What?
Old Man: the geese!
J: uhh--yeah..?
Old Man: [returns to stand beside me] Well my brothers nephew-in-law once went to a small town up north for some hiking. he says there were hundreds of them all huddled in a pond.
J: [mucho confused] but..the squirrel...what was that all about?
Old Man: of course, Robert was much younger then. He's a pilot now. Barbara on the other hand still goes outside for hikes once in a while, but her asthma gets the best of her. The doctor told her she should use an inhaler but those damn things weren't around when I was young. Scam, is what they are. Once Alan died, Barbara's cousin had to move in to keep her company. Funerals are expensive you know, and such a bore.......
J: Who's Alan?--Wait--but...but?? THE SQUIRRELLL!
Old Man: ...the diabetes in manageable, though I find it difficult going pee all the time--of course that's the medication.....
He clearly doesn't care or notice whether I am there or not, and continues to talk as I back away slowly. There were no answers here. Only more questions. I shake my head and go home.
I think it's safe to say, that no one will ever know why these old people do what they do. All I know is, I'm sure in 40 years, I'll catch you doing the same thing. Just look both ways, please, before you cross. And keep a few peanuts handy. And I don't care about Alan.
As soon as the squirrel came into the scene, i was like, oh yes it's always about the squirrels and birds with old men.
ReplyDeletebut.. WAS THAT A TRUE STORY?