ronnie walked down the street and tried to generally remember where he had to take the left. he knew that back at the house they never seemed to have pliers; never in all his time growing up there, somehow. that could be his first stop. it’s like two or three streets past the hardware store and you take a left.
there was miss beverly, still getting on the bus at her age. is that what time it was? ronnie and his mom used to always laugh at the thought of miss beverly – the same miss beverly who took a full minute, which is longer than you might realize, to get onto the bus – giving care to folks. giving medicine to someone having an emergency.
“THEY DEH GONE TIME SHE GET THERE” was the punchline one time, and that’s the one that stuck. “…TIME SHE GET THERE” was a reliable way to have the entire room in tears.
___
i need a next scene here. should i stay with the walk?
“but, you know… that is how these things go. sometimes, right. i don’t have to tell you.”
“right so.”
“but he’s good. he’ll be fine. i ain’ see no reason for him to be fine. when he recover.”
he nods
“but i don’t think he even said bye to miss elcott. and that’s a thing you have to do.”
“right well…”
“i ain’ say he was in the state of mind for do so. but that’s a thing you should take care of.”
“i suppose, right. i ain’ have that happen to me, so.”
first man steadies himself a bit. he was prepared for this retort, and however reasonable he was trying to steer the conversation away from it.
“i don’t see what you need to have that happen for you to…”
“no, no. i could just tell you what i would do there and then. you get me?”
and sure he did. he just didn’t like the direction this was taking. barry, that’s who he was talking to: barry, was good for a chat but he would sometimes take things where he wanted them to go.
but someone else might have called barry just a bit of a realist. or someone with who believes in the principle of the thing. in either case, it can be something you’re not always in the mood for.
anyway, that was that. barry heard what he had to say, but wasn’t all the way moved. barry was like that sometimes, so it probably made him someone hard to go to if you just wanted to get some things off your chest, which is a thing i hear people like to do. talk, no solutions.