The neighbor across the way is an older gentleman. He often waits outside for his son to come home. He has dirty grey hair and a scraggly beard, and he wears a red sweatshirt. If I happen to come home as he awaits his son, he'll approach my car with a wave and a smile. He looks like a fisherman. If I ever asked him what he did, he'd probably say, "I'm a fisherman," and I would not be even remotely surprised.
Our last encounter went something like this:
Neighbor walks toward me as I exit the car. "Helloooooo."
Trying to find the handles to all of the grocery bags and looping them on my left arm so that I can keep my right hand free to close and lock the door. Struggling at the task. "Hey sir, how are you today?"
"Boy, I tell you, this week... it's been a rough year." He stands at a safe distance.
"Oh man, sorry to hear that."
"Well, yea. It's alright."
"Yes, it's all right."
"Welp, see you in the after life.... Or the regular life, I'm not sure." He waves his hands as if he was trying to rewind the words back into his mouth.
"See ya."
Wait a second. That's something you say to someone who's about to die. Does he know something that I don't know? Was it some kind of foreboding that I wasn't supposed to catch? Probably he's like a mystical fisherman figure, but he's kindhearted so he wanted to throw me a bone.
I'm still alive, and so is he. (For now...)
Also, one time he asked me if I was a nurse. I guess if he knew the future, he should know that I'm not a nurse. But maybe it's one of those things where you only know the future and not the present.
I don't know. I'm not a mystical fisherman expert. I'm just his neighbor.
-j
