When I was a kid my grandparents rented a house from a man named Albert. He lived next door to them in the big farm house with his family. My grandparents house was set back from the road a bit, to get to it you had to drive up a winding hilly driveway. At the end of the driveway there was a cold shed, which Albert used for...storage I guess. Honestly, I don't remember.
Believe it or not, when I was young, I was a cute and precocious kid. I was extremely friendly and would talk to just about anyone. Really, I'll bet I was a nightmare for my parents. Thankfully I tended to befriend older people, who weren't in the mood to kidnap, or kill me.
Albert was one of those people. He had a farm, and used to grow produce, which he would take to the farmers market at the mall twice a week. Therefore two nights a week he was out in front of the cold shed getting his vegetables ready for market. Sometimes it was celery, sometimes it was lettuce. I'm sure there were others, but I don't remember.
Every time I saw him there, I'd go out and talk to him. I may have actually been pestering the hell out of him, but he didn't seem to mind too much. In fact, I think he enjoyed it, his kids are older than me, and he really seemed to be the type of person that enjoyed children.
As we'd drive to my grandparents house I'd ask my mom if Albert was going to be around that day. Of course, she didn't know, but could guess based on market days. It was a highlight for me, I enjoyed chatting with Albert and helping him clean up his veggies for market.
Of course as years passed, Albert stopped going to market, I stopped going to my grandparents house every day, and I didn't see Albert at all. He came over to talk to me at my grandmothers funeral, which was difficult for me for many, many reasons. He also came to talk to me at my grandfathers wedding. Which was certainly more festive.
I noticed as I was driving to work that his house was for sale, I mentioned it to my mom and she said that he'd passed away and she figured his kids were selling things off.
It's sad. And strange how something is forgotten till you're reminded of it.
Posted by Michelle at July 25, 2003 06:11 PM