[at-l] Flash

[Arthur Gaudet]

He's back.

Arthur Gaudet
RockDancer on the Appalachian Trail

> On Apr 4, 2014, at 10:16 PM, Felix J <athiker at smithville.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Old man Crull was sitting on a bench watching a birdbath. He was sitting
> there because, well, because that's what he did. Everyday was pretty
> much the same for old man Crull. And, at the end of them, he couldn't
> remember one thing that had happened throughout.
> 
> I figured I'd sit with him for a bit and help him pass the time. I'd sat
> on the bench many times with him. They had always been more pleasant
> than they'd become. He didn't remember that he'd ever seen me before.
> 
> "Good day for sittin', ain't it?" I said as I moved his hat so I would
> have room to sit.
> "Yes, it is. Yes, it is" he said as he welcomed me with his eyes. Some
> things can never change. "Did you see that guy? Over at the...you saw
> him. Didn't you?"
> 
> I could tell he was in a talking mood. So, I had to be in a listening
> mood. I always had been. I didn't think the fact that he had no idea who
> I was should stop me from listening now.
> 
> "No, I didn't see him. Where'd he go?"
> "Ohhh...that was the guy. He played ball with us that time. You
> weren't....were you there?" He was thinking hard. He had the facts in
> there. They just weren't in order. Weren't where they belonged. He
> couldn't get to them.
> "I was there. I was there at first. Then, I had to leave. Remember?"
> "I'll tell you. That guy could hit a baseball. Clyde.  I always could
> hit 'cause I was a lefty. I liked 'em down and away, ya know. Below the
> knees and outside. Clyde could crush 'em. They were up on that road
> where that store is...." he changed gears.
> 
> "I'll never forget those women looking at those mushrooms. That
> one...the one that lived behind the store...she squealed. I'll never
> forget that" he said with a smile of satisfaction of finding a mushroom
> that made a woman squeal someplace in time. It may as well had been
> yesterday.
> 
> "That store's not there anymore, is it?" I asked. I had no idea what
> store he was talking about. I wanted him to keep remembering things,
> though. Putting pieces of non-existent puzzles together to make a
> picture in his mind.
> "They're all gone. All of 'em." He looked to his left. He looked a long
> way off. "I'm blind."
> "Do what?"
> "I'm blind."
> "What do you mean you're 'blind'?" I asked as I'd never heard him say this.
> "I can't see anything. See those cows up there? See those layin' there
> in the grass? I can't see them" he said.
> "Well, it sounds like you can see them. Those calves are 400 yards away."
> "He sure could hit."
> 
> 
> -- 
> Felix J. McGillicuddy
> ME-->GA '98
> "Your Move"
> ALT '03 KT '03
> http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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