His name is Wallace,
I first met Wallace a decade or so ago on one of those nights when we just couldn’t sleeping and toole a late walk to a local bar.
A few times I invited this old man to a local tavern and he gladly joined me on shots of agua-ardente, a vodka like drink from Portugal. He told me about his life and how he got to be a bad boy, not going to school and assaulting homes and stores. The bartender didn’t quite like my new friend but my money spoke highly and my tips were very generous, so he was allowed in, every time I was there.
Then he disappeared for awhile, may be a few years until one day, two years ago he knocked at my office door coming from nowhere. He had been in prison for robbing a Cafe to get a few coins on a cold winter night, so he said.
We got to talk again but this time I would give him a few dollars and let him go on his marry way, I was not into drinking anymore and I wasn’t going there just to keep him company.
Since then he knocks at my door (residence) every other day, especially during the cold season, looking for money and clothes, mostly underwear, jackets and a bar of soap. All my old underwear were taken, and now I find myself giving him my new clothes. I just gave him a brand new coat (Indian hand made) that I never really used. He was happy. I am sure he sells most of the good things I give him but, who cares. To give and dictate what to do with what we give is control and manipulation. Over the years I’ve learnt not to go that route. Whatever he does is fine with me.
For me, Wallace is a representation of what I could have been a few years ahead, had I kept going in the direction I was going for a while. He is there to remind me and to teach me not to lose my way, to stay cool and serene and just flow through life without going totally bunkers.
Above all, I feel he is my friend and I’m probably one of the few people that actually have a serious conversation with him, sometimes for hours at my front door. If someday Wallace is gone, I will miss his soul. He does have a lot more to teach me!
Lenape
