Original Post: June 23, 2006
True story
The other day I went to Friendly's with my six year old son, Fletcher. I detest Friendly's unless it's 10:30 at night and I'm craving ice cream or cheesy fries, but it was a treat for him. The hostess seated Fletcher and me in a two person booth. I hate these too. The waitress was taking her sweet ass time coming to our table and I noticed the guy across from us. He was seated after us and was already eating. I would guess he was in his sixties... a little stooped and weary.
He looked lonely, like maybe his own son was grown and moved away and his wife had died and he was living all alone in the big house that he'd bought her just after they were married. He would glance at Fletcher and a wistful smile would cross his face while Fletch told me the stuff he'd done in school that day. He was undoubtedly remembering those same conversations that he'd had with his son, before time and other obligations stripped him of everything but his memories.
After a while it became obvious how much interest he was showing in our conversation... living vicariously through me.
me: "Wanna go get some beer?"
Fletcher: "No."
The guy kind of smiles.
me: "Wanna go to the horse track?"
Fletcher: "No." frowning
The guy laughs a little.
me: "Wanna go pick up some girls?"
Fletcher: "No." scowling
The guy audibly laughs.
me: "Wanna kill a hobo?"
The guy nearly choked on his burger.
I don't care who you are... don't eavesdrop on my conversations. You might get more than you bargained for. Especially if I'm hungry.
Disclaimer: We didn't actually kill a hobo.
He looked lonely, like maybe his own son was grown and moved away and his wife had died and he was living all alone in the big house that he'd bought her just after they were married. He would glance at Fletcher and a wistful smile would cross his face while Fletch told me the stuff he'd done in school that day. He was undoubtedly remembering those same conversations that he'd had with his son, before time and other obligations stripped him of everything but his memories.
After a while it became obvious how much interest he was showing in our conversation... living vicariously through me.
me: "Wanna go get some beer?"
Fletcher: "No."
The guy kind of smiles.
me: "Wanna go to the horse track?"
Fletcher: "No." frowning
The guy laughs a little.
me: "Wanna go pick up some girls?"
Fletcher: "No." scowling
The guy audibly laughs.
me: "Wanna kill a hobo?"
The guy nearly choked on his burger.
I don't care who you are... don't eavesdrop on my conversations. You might get more than you bargained for. Especially if I'm hungry.
Disclaimer: We didn't actually kill a hobo.
2 comments:
glad I found your blog.
So am I. Since I moved up here, I haven't seen a lot of things in the one day drive radius in New England. You're giving me some ideas.
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