The Old Man Across the Street
Charles is a 70 year old veteran of the Vietnam war. Charles have lived on the same street since he has came back from the war and has lost his spouse Jennifer about 3 years ago. Charles gets up about at six oâclock every morning and is there waiting patiently for his newspaper. As soon as Charles gets his newspaper he sits down on his old wooden bench on his porch. Charles generally takes his time reading his paper until the children run past going to school. The kids generally cut through Charles yard and oh boy does that make Charles mad. If you were not awake you would be suddenly awoken by a loud yell saying, âYou whippersnappers get off my lawn or you will know what will happen to you!â Every Saturday you can see Charles heading off to the cemetery with white flowers in his hands to put on his wife Jenniferâs grave. Generally Charles does not come home on Saturdays until the sun started to set. On Sundays Charles attends church and if he does not see you heading to church all you can hear from him is, âBack in my day ya whippersnappers would be forced to go to church with your parents.â Charles was also known for his angry âHuffsâ whenever you did something he did not like.
On rainy days you can see Charles staring out his window for hours on end. Some have thought he just enjoys to watch the rain or the people in the rain and then there are some people who believe that Charles is reliving the memories of when he was in the war because of the stern and serious expression on his face. There has even been times in the middle of the night you could see Charles staring out his window. (ooooh spooky)
Every two or three weeks Charles daughter Gwen comes to visit although before the passing of Jennifer she would only show up roughly every three months. This is probably one of the few days you see Charles smile and when kids run through his yard he goes to yell but stops short. Gwen generally takes Charles out for walks in the morning because she says, âstaying cooped up for to long can make a person stir crazy.â So if you do not see Charles sitting on his old bench sitting on his porch then you know Gwen has come to visit.
Sometimes Charles tries to strike up a conversations with the neighbors but stops short because he thinks who would want to talk to a old grumpy man like me. There have been times when the neighbors have tried to talk to Charles but was met with hostility. You can tell Charles does regret that because as the neighbors walk away you can see a hint of sadness and loneliness in his eyes. For poor Charles only if there was a more stubborn neighbor then maybe he would be able to talk to someone other than his daughter when she shows up.Â
The first day I saw Charles was a day after move in. My first thought about the guy was, âheâs old, heâs baldingâ, and he had one of those twirly mustaches. Not much to him, but that mustache got me. He never came by to greet me and my parents as new neighbors, so I decided to go over and introduce myself. I mean, he was sitting right on his porch yelling at the kids going by. I walked up to his front porch and thrusted my right hand forward in a show of greeting. He merely muttered under his breath, something about the Amish and fence jumpers. I advanced yet again, to no avail. The Johnsonâs next door did mention how âhuffyâ Charles could be. Yet, I got the sense that there was more to him, and a few days later my suspicions were proven correct. Seeing him interact with his daughter truly showed the man underneath the grumpy pretense. So I made it my mission to crack his crotchety exterior. The next day, I strode over, determined to make Charles my new friend.Â
This was really difficult, in my opinion. This exercise definitely helped with bringing new concepts to this old piece. I would never have written some of these words had I not been challenged to do so. This strategy can help writers think outside of the box (thereâs a cliche, lol) when trying to create interesting dynamics with their writings. This kind of reminds me of those mad lib sheets I would do as a kid!!Â
