Pictures of the Future

There is a man I pass on my way to work. He is the kind of salty old man that compels young women to, "ohhh"'s and "how cute"'s in the daylight. But in the dark they might cross the street and huddle together giggling to ease the tension. He has the look of hard living, maybe a widower who has seen alot of life and most likely calls young people "hippies" as his hand absently-mindedly touches his Navy tattoo on his forearm.

I see him just about every other day. He walks his dog (who may be as old as his master) up and down this stretch of timber with a walkie talkie in his back pocket and a massive unlit cigar protruding a full seven inches from his lips. The only thing that changes is his attire... and this only changes seasonally. In the summer it is knit shorts with a v-neck white t-shirt and black socks. In the winter it is full coveralls with a bearskin hat. But always an unlit cigar, a walkie talkie, and his faithful hound.

I'm not quite sure what to make of him... I never quite work up the courage to stop and talk to him. But I want to know.... "Why the unlit cigar?" "Who is on the other end of that walkie talkie?" "Why carry either?" "Does he ever actually smoke the cigar?" I imagine all kinds of weird scenarios like the cigar was given to him by a famous general in WWII, and he never smokes it, and he has the walkie talkie because he just likes to listen to the truckers on the CB channel because he is lonely and sometimes jumps on to talk about hippies. Or he walks his dog because it belonged to a friend that has since passed on, and even though he is reluctant to do so... he doesn't even like dogs... a promise is a promise. I don't want to stop and ask because I'm afraid in reality he walks his dog for the exercise, doesn't smoke the cigar cause his doctor told him not to, and has the walkie talkie in case he falls and breaks his hip.

The only conclusion I can draw is people are more interesting when you don't know anything about them.