people are people

we used to know the people who lived in that house.
but years ago, they moved out.
then someone moved in and before i could meet him,
he disappeared.
the kids dubbed it 'the dead guy's house.'
it took on an air of mystery for sure.
we never knew what happened.

a long time later, a family moved in....
and then the mom and kids moved out.
leaving a guy i kept hearin' weird rumors about.

the construction workers filled me with stories of
him being crazy in the head.

my sons spoke to him recently and told me he was a
nice guy. was good to hear....but still i wondered.

he has no car. i see him walking up and down the road
to the grocery store. but have never bumped into him.

this morning as i got near his house, i heard a shout.

uh oh.

it wasn't a scared shout. like i didn't think someone
got hurt...but i didn't know what to think. it was a loud
shout. real loud.

hmmmmm.....i'm really not sure this is gonna be something
i want to know, i thought.

and i heard another shout just as i was rounding the bend
where i could see his front door.

it looked like he was sitting on the ground at his front
door.

what could i do?

'you okay?' i shouted over.

he stood up.
oh yeah. and started off in a flurry of words.
he's got a heavy accent. i couldn't get all of what he
said. i did hear 'sump pump' and 'water up to here' tho.
i wanted to laugh with relief.
but figured a sympathetic face would be more helpful.

i nodded, looked sympathetic, exchanged a few words,
had a feeling i just made a new friend, and went on my way.
'have a good day' he hollered after me.
and i grinned.

what a relief.

and i was reminded once again that people are people.

always a good thing to remember.