Uncle Hinky meandered onto Main Street. There is nothing wrong with meandering when your 100th birthday was "some time back." It was not meaningless meandering. Uncle Hinky knows nothing of meaninglessness. Every step he takes is purposeful. At his age, you really have to watch your step.
He likes to say that every age has its version of step-watching necessity.
When he was young, he felt the need to watch his step around ladies. When he was older, he felt the same need. Now he doesn't feel all that intimidated in that particular dimension of his life, but he is very careful about uneven sidewalks and potholes.
It's not that he isn't spry and he certainly isn't blind, but some things stand out as more immediate in their concerns.
Immediate concerns have always been a topic of interest for Uncle Hinky. Years ago, while on his ay to an important appointment he came across a mad skunk. Now skunks are friendly sites to Polecat Hollow dwellers, but mad skunks are a different matter. As well fed as these polecats are they sometimes grow as big as oversized poodles and this one was large and very, very rabid.
He had a choice and it seemed to him in that moment that if he did not address the immediate concern, the long term considerations would become moot.
There's more to that story than he has ever told and some day I'd like to hear the rest of it.
There were no rabid skunks in site this day - just a few mad people. Sarah Mickleheart was mad at her next door neighbor for leaving the sprinklers on all night and flooding the street. It wouldn't have been so bad if Sarah had been paying attention and watching her step when she stepped on the curb in her slippers on her morning paper retrieval. So much for those slippers.
The mayor's wife was mad at him and he at her for some misunderstanding the night before. Someone was careless about some remark in response to some careless deed and feelings were bruised.
Hinky has an ear for things and he heard murmerings here and there - mostly about immediate concerns that didn't seem to have as long term a significance as mad skunks. Mad people, he thought, maybe needed to take the longer view, watch their steps and meander through life a little more.
He likes to say that every age has its version of step-watching necessity.
When he was young, he felt the need to watch his step around ladies. When he was older, he felt the same need. Now he doesn't feel all that intimidated in that particular dimension of his life, but he is very careful about uneven sidewalks and potholes.
It's not that he isn't spry and he certainly isn't blind, but some things stand out as more immediate in their concerns.
Immediate concerns have always been a topic of interest for Uncle Hinky. Years ago, while on his ay to an important appointment he came across a mad skunk. Now skunks are friendly sites to Polecat Hollow dwellers, but mad skunks are a different matter. As well fed as these polecats are they sometimes grow as big as oversized poodles and this one was large and very, very rabid.
He had a choice and it seemed to him in that moment that if he did not address the immediate concern, the long term considerations would become moot.
There's more to that story than he has ever told and some day I'd like to hear the rest of it.
There were no rabid skunks in site this day - just a few mad people. Sarah Mickleheart was mad at her next door neighbor for leaving the sprinklers on all night and flooding the street. It wouldn't have been so bad if Sarah had been paying attention and watching her step when she stepped on the curb in her slippers on her morning paper retrieval. So much for those slippers.
The mayor's wife was mad at him and he at her for some misunderstanding the night before. Someone was careless about some remark in response to some careless deed and feelings were bruised.
Hinky has an ear for things and he heard murmerings here and there - mostly about immediate concerns that didn't seem to have as long term a significance as mad skunks. Mad people, he thought, maybe needed to take the longer view, watch their steps and meander through life a little more.
Comments