erin

he lived on the edges.

in summer he turned up on benches – mornings, i would often see him sitting at a picnic table, with a used coffee cup full of fresh coffee and a muffin at the grocery store nearby. the store gave free refills if their logoed cup was used so the cups got reused whether they were first bought by our unhoused or found, discarded by a customer.

with the evening sun, he’d sit in the triangle park at the end of my block, boots neatly tucked at his side their tongues pulled forward to air out the day’s sweat. he wiggled his toes to a song of his memory or just as a welcome to the open air. i often stopped to say hello – sometimes i’d give him a popsicle and other times he shared what he was eating with my dog. his speech was always clear and deep, kind and cheerfully cadenced- bright blue eyes shone and you could see him thinking. he excitedly shared the plots of books he was reading or told me about a new plant he’d discovered. after some time, he found a guitar, two strings missing, and began teaching himself to carry broken melodies.

i asked him once how long he’d been living outside and if he’d like to be in a home again. he told me he doesn’t belong inside, that it makes him feel anxious. he said he gets enough to get by and quickly changed the subject to tell me he found out how to get free kolaches from a bakery nearby.

on this day we sat and watched the sky, “where are you from,” i asked. “illinois, near chicago.”

“i have friends in naiperville, they lived in joliet before that.”

“i’m just a few towns up … weaton,” he says with a brightness. we sit in silence for a bit then he tells me he was a wrestler there in high school … his beard shuffles as a smile surfaces, “funny thing happened the other day… This gang type guy came up to me, I don’t know why but he says “you wanna mess with me you mess with the cartel” and I was thinking like ‘this guy is crazy.’ He doesn’t know who I am – so I say, “you wanna mess with me you mess with a wrestler from weston.” that guy backed down.”

he pet my dog, a gentle pyrenees retriever mix with silky long fur. they stared at each other, “You are the dog with eyes as wise as the forest.”

from orig v 3-22-2022