The old man
As per your decree, I submit this story for your approval.
Once upon a time there lived an old man. The old man had niether wife nor
children and was very lonely. He lived outside the village and had lived there
as long as anyone could remember. He lived his days in repetition, doing the
same thing over and over.
At the break of dawn, he would wake up. He needed no alarm or reminder but
did this out of habit. He would get up and fix a meager breakfast that
consisted of an egg and some toast. His drink of choice was plain water. If it
was good enough for the animals to drink, it was good enough for him was his
thinking. Once his breakfast was done he would take a long walk in the
woods.
There was a time when the old man had a profession and worked inside the
village. Those days were past. He would make fine shoes. The children loved
him because he would pay attention to them but the men and women of the
village thought he was odd. He did good work and didn't cause any trouble so
the villagers had tolerated him. While everybody in the village knew the old
man, none of them knew him on a personal level.
Now the old man only entered the village on a weekly basis and for the
purpose of resupplying his tiny cottage with what he needed to survive. His
life was simple. He never indulged in the pleasures that consume others and in
the end cause them to suffer.
When he finished his long walk, he would return to his cottage. Once he was
there he would go about the work that is required to maintain it's normal
operation. Until one is responsible for the upkeep of a dwelling, one doesn't
realize just how much work it takes to care for it.
After his self imposed chores were complete, the old man would sit down and
read. The old man had lived within a few miles of his birth his entire life, but
the characters he read about in his books took him to far away places. He
traveled the world several times over sitting in his favorite chair. Once he had
read for a little while he would think about the things he had just read. He
would lose himself in the wonder that these different experiences suggested to
his mind.
Finally night would fall and he would put himself into bed, only to repeat the
process again the next day.
At the beginning of this story, I mentioned that the old man was lonely and
what I said was true, the thing is that the old man didn't realize he was lonely.
He had spent such a long time absent from the company of other real people
that he had grown accustom to them not being there. His weekly treks into the
village failed to remind him that everybody needs somebody. It really seemed
like nobody needed him and the thought never even occured to him.
One thing that is true is that people talk. People take notice of you and the
things you do even when you don't think that they do. People will talk about
your appreance and actions to each other even when you think that you are
invisible to them. The old man was no exception. When the old man entered
the village each week, the villagers watched him. They talked about his
mannerisms and the things that he purchased during his visits. They
speculated about the things he did outside the village when no one was there
to see what he did. Since the man was old, stories of his youth had been kept
alive to try and explain his strange behavior but no one dared to ask him
plainly.
One boy listened to the stories and had watched the old man when he came
into the village. He would follow the old man around and try not to be
noticed. He became curious about this person that the villagers talked about
but nobody actually talked to. This went on for several months.
One day the boy decided he would follow the old man and see where he lived.
He would be taking a huge risk in doing this because he was not allowed to
leave the village by decree of his parents and besides that, with few
exceptions, no one ever left the village anyway. The possibility of him getting
lost was almost assured the farther he strayed from his familiar surroundings.
The day came when the old man returned to the village. The boy followed him
around as was his custom. When the old man left the village to return home,
the boy continued following him. He stayed far enough away as to keep an
eye on the old man and not be seen. Several times the old man stopped
walking. He took a careful survey of his surroundings as if he were looking for
something specific. Once he was satisfied that everything was normal, he
continued walking again. The boy was nervous. After the old man stopped a
third time he almost sure the old man knew he was being followed.
After walking awhile, the old man turned to the left and the boy lost sight of
him. The boy carefully made his way to the last place he had seen the old man
but once he got there, he didn't see where the old man went. After a few
minutes the boy sat down. He wasn't sure where he was. He wasn't sure where
the village was and he didn't know where the old man went. He just had to
think for a few minutes.
If he couldn't find his way back to the village before nightfall, He was in
danger of being attacked by some wild beast. The old man had made several
turns and the boy wasn't sure if he could go back the way he came. He tried to
keep calm but fear overtook him and he began to panic. Once panic set in he
lost his ability to think clearly.
After about 10 minutes had passed and the boy lost all hope of ever seeing the
village again, the old man appeared as if by magic. The old man didn't speak
but waited for the boy to notice he wasn't alone anymore. After a few more
minutes had passed, the boy looked up from where he was sitting and saw the
old man standing there. The old man just looked at him. The wieght of the old
mans gaze made the boy uncomfortable and he wanted to go home. He stood
up from where he was sitting.
Once the boy stood up, the old man starting walking again. The boy followed
him. He wanted to say something but he kept silent. After a little while they
ended up at the old man's cottage. The old man entered the cottage but the
boy just stood outside because he wasn't sure what to do. The old man left the
door open so the boy could follow and after a few minutes the boy finally did.
When the boy got inside, the old man had already finished slicing off a piece
of bread and some cheese and after putting it on a plate, handed it to the boy.
The boy took the plate from the old man and began to eat. The old man then
sat down at a table and begain eating himself. The boy continued to stand
because there was only one chair at the table which the old man was currently
occupying.
The boy examined the old man as he ate. The old man had short white hair
and blue eyes. The skin on his face had wrinkles in it like it was loosely
attached to his face. The boy then looked around the cottage. There was
something odd about the cottage and it took a few minutes for the boy to
decide what is was. The thing that was odd is that there were no pictures. In
fact there was nothing ornamental in the cottage at all. Everything from the
chair and the table to the plates and the forks where there because they had a
purpose. There was nothing sentimental, nothing to remind someone of a life
that had been lived. Of course the boy didn't think that deeply about the
absense of such things, he just noticed that they were not there.
When the old man was done eating, he got up and went into another room. the
boy dared not move from where he was standing because the old man had not
yet spoken to him and it was not the custom for children to speak first to an
adult.
The old man returned from the room he went into and resumed his normal
routine. The boy noticed that he was holding a book in his hand and
determined that the book must have come from the room the old man
disappeared into. The old man handed a book to the boy and the boy realized
that the old man had brought in two books, not just one. The old man sat back
down in his chair, opened his book and began to read.
The boy still felt uncomfortable but he infered that since the old man had
given him a book, it would be impolite to not at least open it. The boy opened
the book to the first page. He tried reading the book. The book has some
words that he recognizes and some words that he doesn't. Before the boy
realizes it, the old man has gotten up out of his chair and walked over to
where the boy is standing.
The old man could see on the boy's face that he is having trouble reading the
words. So he points to a word on the page and speaks it out loud. Then the old
man goes on to the next word and does the same. He repeats the process until
all the words on the page have been spoken.
This is the first time that the boy had heard the old man's voice. The old man
spoke slow and deliberate. There was a tenderness in his voice which the boy
was not expecting to be there. It put the boy at ease and he started to relax a
little bit. The old man patiently read several pages to the boy and the boy
looked at each word as it was being read. The boy started noticing patterns in
the words and how they were pronounced and after a few pages he became
more familiar with how the words were spoken.
The old man stopped reading abruptly. He closed the books and took them
and put them up. He then took a blanket and made a bed on the hard floor.
After lying down on the bed he had just made, the old man fell asleep.
The boy was astonished at how fast the old man fell asleep after lying down.
It seemed like just a few minutes and he was left alone. The old man did not
say anything else to him after he finished reading the words on the pages of
his book. He mearly made a bed and went to sleep in it.
The boy looked around and noticed that there was an opening to another
room. After entering the room he found an empty bed. The boy realized that
the old man had left the bed for him to sleep in and he started to feel guilty.
After all, he had intruded upon the old man's privacy and became an uninvited
guest. Still, it would be impolite to refuse hospitality so the boy sleep in the
old man's bed.
When the boy woke up in the morning, the realization of what he had done hit him fully. He had left the village without permission. He did not tell anyone what he was doing and he was gone for the entire night. His parents would be worried sick about him and when he turned up, he was sure that his punishment would be more than he could bare. While he was still thinking about this, the old man came in and threw the covers off his bed and walked out. The boy got up and came into the main room to find some breakfast waiting for him. After the boy finished eating, the old man left the cottage. The boy found himself alone. Since the boy did not want to be alone, he followed the old man outside. When he got outside, the old man had already started walking.
The boy followed the old man until they got back into the village. It seemed strange to the boy but the old man seemed to know where he lived because he led him right to the door of his own house. The boy was frightened of returning home because he did not want to be punished for his foolishness.
When his parents opened the door, they found the boy standing next to the old man. They scooped up thier child into their arms because they were so happy to have him back safe and sound. After a few minutes their happiness turned to rage. They motioned the boy inside. They thanked the old man for returning him but other than that they said nothing. They did not ask him any questions nor did they express any anger or dissatisfaction in his actions. The old man did not repond but tipped his head slightly and turned to walk away.
The old man returned to his cottage and his daily routine.