The Stranger Shows Up In Town

well... i remember he showed up in town hell what was it. earl! when'd that fella show up round here? earl! goldangit good fer nothin sonofa. that boy. his brother ray ain't right, but earl, he ain't none closer to right than his brother. course they's both so young neither of em prolly remember when he showed up anyhow. it musta been thirty odd years or so. i do remember he showed up leadin a mule packed with none much but a few satchels a what looked mostly fulla books, a cardboard travelin case, and a shotgun. he had one good eye but he looked like it ain't seen much a the same. and that girl. lord amighty that girl. she was some kinda somethin. he looked near abouts forty years her senior but with a fella like that it's hard to tell if it's calendar years yer lookin at or if it's the way life's done treated him. i reckon that fella had seen a thing or two he'd rather have commenced to forgettin. never knew how he got hitched up with a young thing like her but like my grandaddy always said: that's one a them questions you don't ask your acquaintances outta respect and it ain't a question you ask a stranger cause it ain't none a your business. around here... everbody's one or the other.

she musta been averse to age cause i don't think she looked a day older at her funeral. oh we all went. didn't know them two well even then but it's just common courtesy to show yer face. pay your respects. they went ahead and buried her in the churchyard even though i don't remember seein neither of em in church one single sunday in all their years in town. i ain't sayin they weren't christian. just seemed their way a doin things. kept to themselves. stayed on that farm a theirs. saw him in town from time to time. never said much. never stayed long. got the necessaries and moved on.

hthere was once we had what might be considered a conversation. i remember we made our pleasantries whilst waitin on that boy from the feed store to get back from an errand but we left it at that. after near abouts what seemed like all durn afternoon i was about to leave and by way of common courtesy said i weren't gonna wait all day - c'aint just walk away leavin a man standin alone without sayin somethin - and as i was set to step off a the porch he comes out with "until the day when god will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words: wait and hope." i turned round and stared. saw some kinda glimmer pass across his eyes til he looked down all silly grin cross his face. we all knew he was somethin of a literary man so i s'posed it was some line or other from one a his books and thought about askin as much but there was a somethin about the way he leant on that porch post, somethin about the way the sunlight hit that still smirkin face below that hat pulled down low, that one good eye sparklin, that i remembered my grandaddy sayin: that's one a them questions you don't ask your acquaintances outta respect and it ain't a question you ask a stranger cause it ain't none a your business. and like i say: round here... everbody's one or the other. so i walked off. leavin him waitin. leavin him hopin.