justwrite 15 june

from the first words I heard him speak I knew he was the kind of man who does crossword puzzles in pen there was no doubt in his mouth or in his mind and it was surprising to find myself wondering if he was more than a character sketch fetched by an unhurried mind whiling away the time while gazing out the window and you know I’m not sure but what’s more when he walked there was definitely somewhere he was going he was not a stroller and only favored with a glance certain chance sights along the way and you meaning I had the feeling that there was nothing chance about these sights at all as if they had been set in his path purposefully perhaps by the man himself as if his life was some sort of reconnaissance mission and he was forever fishing for the point the light the way but not in that kind of holyrolling sense just a tensed set of muscles taking mental notes jumping rope in the gym and drinking coffee without sugar but with a moderate amount of cream enough for color which he gets from his mother and you seem to imagine that he has no siblings which for him was not a problem and if it was there was no way to solve it so he did without and here in this new scene many years later he stands on his own two feet his shoes are not immaculately shined as you might imagine in fact I’ll report that a certain number of scuffs can be observed by slowing down the scene and leaning way down crown of head to shin of leg but of course we can’t do this so on he goes and as he shows no sign of hurry it’s a surprise when he checks his watch I almost expect he’ll nod in agreement as if he’d imagined exactly those digits and has the pleasure of being confirmed but in fact he does not for he’s not a smug man he’s confident yes but the best part so far is that it’s internal and not exposed in that annoying way when you see people saying how right they are and you want to leave them behind but with him you don’t mind in another era he’d be wearing a hat maybe a fedora on a darkened night and you suddenly imagine he might be a detective and a collective sigh of pleasure comes from the audience in which a number of mystery fans have gathered and have been storing up hope at the remote chance that this mystery man might be planning to handle any number of cases with grace and slight humor the wry kind and a certain number of pickles sure to find their way to him through sandwiches and damsels and alligator-handled cases waiting even now in his office waiting for the story to begin