Silly Grins

Thursday, May 17, 2012

He Crossed the Line

He Crossed the Line

And now it is time to die.

The first time we met, he crossed the line.

Smiling even.

Walked right through the gap

in that fence we were building. 

Our neighbor. 

We give him peace before he rests. 


  1. "If you have to kill someone, never ever tell a living soul."
    - Gene, "Layer Cake"

    1. There is a misunderstanding. Here is the context:

      Our dear neighbor, after retiring to care for his senile mother (mentioned in a comment maybe about a year ago in Bad Boy's confession chamber - his senile mother being a reason for the fence in the first place even though she was somewhat comic relief)... our dear neighbor is 'on his way out', as they say.

      Most of his retirement has been spent tending his magnificent garden. One of the trees has some nice fruit on it, almost ripe for picking. We share what we've got with each other when we've got too much, which seems to happen just often enough.

      The picture at the top of this post is of one of the flowers in the garden he'll probably never come back to see. He can't eat anymore, so bringing homegrown food won't due any good. But we've got a number of pictures we took this morning and had printed out. He can look at those when he's awake. His system is going into shutdown.

      Yeah. He crossed the line when we first met. The fence wasn't quite finished and I was doing something in our yard when I looked up. For a moment, I was uncomfortable, almost tempted to be angry but I just couldn't be. I realized that his straightforward approach was just being friendly. And something else. Something else disarming. A look in his eye told me he's seen things. I later learned why.

      And now he is getting ready to cross another line from which he will never come back. He's worn his life well. Truly a kind soul. They are not as plentiful as you might think.

      Later, a post will be devoted solely to him.

      But now, it is time...

      Thank you for yours.

    2. Damn, if I'd known all that... My comment looks in awfully poor taste now.

    3. Say the word and it comes down. Now I can see how it might have functioned as a 'hook' (word I learned today) which could be considered a 'cheap shot'. Not my intention. Not my intention at all. The whole thing is about lines people draw and boundaries people understand.

      First time meeting someone. And last. Both of those moments kind of pulled together across that string of time. A quick seven years.

      Good part is, got the pictures up to him today. He's so bad he can't talk and can barely see and hardly move his head from side to side. I was painfully aware of that when I set the pics down for his family to be able to take their time showing him when he's go the strength. He was trying to die at home, but things got kind of bad, so he's in a room.

      We'll take the kids in for a brief moment tomorrow afternoon, after our morning hike, when visiting hours start. Wifey was always apologizing for the noise our offspring make, but he always said he enjoys hearing the laughter of children.

      Not a bitter man.

  2. (Removes hat and covers heart with it while bowing solemnly...)