Sharing Sidewalks
b.r.crandall
I saw him, yesterday, walking down his driveway,
& wondered if he was doing exercises assigned
for post knee/hip/aging surgery.
I nodded my head his way..
I saw him again today, though, several miles since
yesterday and he teased, “I share the sidewalk,
you know.”
He was speaking to Karal. We were walking
in the road.
He was a WWII veteran named Carl, or Tim, or Bob -
I didn’t quite catch it, but thanked him for his service.
“How far do you walk each day?” I asked.
“Oh, up the hill after passing the high school,
onto Nichols, then I lap around back home.”
It’s a hike, I noted, and commended on the trash
bag he was carrying. “Every day,” he responded.
And I remember pictures of my grandfather
when he was in his 20s serving aboard a navy ship
in the Philippine Sea near Guam -
some stories he refused to tell anyone…
a retired life enjoyed with beer, Camels,
my grandmother’s love, and a lake.
“It’s something,” I replied. “You’re generation
deserves better than this, and I showed him
the bag of trash I collected, too
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