I BELONG HERE ABOUT AS MUCH AS I BELONG ANYWHERE

One of my neighbors is 84.
He is in fairly good physical health.
Is well off fiancially.
His wife has recently passed away
His son lives out of state.
He finds himself all alone with the dog who is also very old.
He doesn't know what to do with himself.
He is also fearful.
Waiting for the inevitable.

I asked him if he would mind keeping a key to my house
just in case I was away and something were to happen,
fire or something.
He told me about a story he just heard on the news
A woman's body was found in her house
after she had been dead for two years.
No one even knew she had died.
The body was mummified by time.
This was found not too far from here.
He is worried.
If he dies in the house will anyone even know.
This neighborhood is like that...
it could happen here.

There are so many old people like that here.
Their husband or wife has passed away
and they are all alone in the house and fearful.
They do not take help easily.
There is still that determination... I don't need anyone.
They keep the outward show at all costs.

So his opening up to me was a major event.
Up this point I am the undesirable in the neighborhood.
All those trees and plants in the yard
"It looks like a farm...."
The ice is cracking.
These are a class of people I am unfamiliar with...
Wealthy, guarded, very concerned about outward appearances.
My 91 Honda Civic with scrunched bumper
is very much out of place among the late model
Infinities, BMW's and Porsche convertibles...

I am accustomed to dress a little strangely for their taste.
Long wrap around skirts I made myself
from $1/yd material at Walmart..
With blouses that very often don't match.
Flower pattern skirts with checked shirts.
And go for a ride on the 3 wheel tricycle
all through the development.

I belong here about as much as I belong anywhere.