A Koalas Tale: The Annoying Old Man

This is a true story it really happened to me. If you want an audio version click here.

 I had an older dog and every morning we would go for a walk around the neighboring block. I took her to the neighboring block because it was made up of mostly sports fields and vacant grassland. We could walk uninterrupted by other dogs guarding their houses and cars pulling in and out of driveways.

 She loved to go for walks and even looked forward to it despite the aches and pains of her old legs. We took it slow with lots of breaks for her to sniff the grass, and recover her strength. It was a square block so if she got too tired we could cut across or simply turn around and walk back, whichever was shorter. 

 Now one of the pathways had a small footbridge that she liked to cross. I don't remember when it happened exactly but a few times near the foot bridge i was greeted by an old man. There isn't anything unusual about that, when you walk a dog people tend to be polite. 

 It got to be a regular thing and before i realised it i was running into him walking slowly near the foot bridge almost every day. Now again this was not too unusual, there were regulars along our walk, people move in patterns and i often shared passing greeting with people that walked the same paths around the same times going about their early morning business. 

 Now he was a talker, many people just gave a smile and a nod, some greeted a good morning, some would want to stop and exchange a meaningless sentence or two, others like this old man wanted a full conversation.

 My dog didn't mind, she liked people and would just sniff around and would actually start walking off when she was ready to go, which was nice because it gave me a nice escape. He always laughed at it when she would just start up walking again, pulling on the lead and looking back expectantly. He would say the same "who is walking who" almost every time.

 So this was mildly annoying but when i noticed he was waiting for me on the footbridge every morning, that when it became a little bit much.  
 Sometimes i would take a slightly different rout and see him walk to the footbridge, he would remain there until his interaction with me and then usually leave when i did,or not long after.

 So that's how it went, every morning i he would be there waiting to talk to me and i would at the very least give him a polite good morning, it seemed the more i spoke the harder it was to get away and the longer he wanted to converse.

 I tried some different routs but they were ether heavily populated or had hills that were too much for my elderly dog. So i just kind of endured it, it wasn't horrible just a meaningless waste of time.

 It got to near xmas and here in Australia that means summer. Due to climate change the weather had been unseasonably warm, i mean it was over 30 c (86 f) degrees before nine o'clock in the morning. So i had been walking my dog during the evening when, even if it hadn't cooled down much, the sun wasn't melting the road or turning the footpath into a hotplate. After a few days of doing this i had a evening thing with my boyfriends family so i took my dog on a quick walk in the morning. 

 I noticed the old annoying man standing on the footbridge as i neared, i was kind of pissed off, i had a lot to do that day and really didn't have time for his inane rambling. As i neared he saw me and i saw his eyes light up and a huge smile come over his face. He was ecstatic to see me, he said he was a bit worried that something had happened or that he had annoyed me and i had started walking my dog elsewhere. 

 I felt like a bit of an ass so i stopped and chatted, explaining about the heat, and expressing my very real concern that no one should be out walking in it. Early in the chat i asked if he had family visiting for xmas. He looked forlorn, there were tears welling in his eyes as he said "Most of my friends they've passed an i don't really see my family much anymore, their busy living there lives i suppose."

 That is when it hit me, i realised that my daily five to ten minute inconvenient meeting with this man may well have been his only interaction with another person all day.  

Those days i had purposely avoided him, or had not taken my dog for a walk at the regular time, he may well have had no human contact at all that day. 

 I was understandably disgusted in myself. I did however legitimately have way too much to do that day. So i explained my plans for the day (obviously leaving out the fact i am gay, sadly it becomes second nature to censor yourself for your own safety) and apologised that i did have to go.   
  
 He looked a bit sad but wished me a "merry Christmas" I'm not christian but i didn't say anything because (sadly it becomes second nature to censor yourself for your own safety and) i knew he meant well.

 As we parted i looked back and said "see you tomorrow." because i knew that from that day on i would devote that twenty minutes of my day to ensure that this person had someone to talk to. Yes i knew i could have done more, but i vowed i would not do any less than that minor thing.

 He looked back and looked overjoyed which made the whole thing that little bit sadder. But i kept to my vow, my dog got older and we couldn't do the whole block anymore but we walked the path with the footbridge. Where i met the old man and we would talk about nothing and everything; how he missed his family, the recent storms, how he was scared of growing old alone, prominent news story's, how i was dreading my dog growing old, that kind of thing. I would always leave on a positive note.  

  Eventually my dog died of old age, but i still walked that block, for exercise, and to meet the old guy on the footbridge. 

 Sadly he stopped being there, i have no idea what happened, but i never saw him again. 

 That annoying old man, turned out to be a funny guy who had lived a long and interesting life, i hope if i am ever old and lonely that someone takes a few minutes out of their day to have a chat with me.

 Now if someone on the street smiles at me, i smile back i have no idea if their smile is forced through pain, as mine often have been, i have no idea if my return smile might be the only human kindness they experience that day. 

 I learned it really doesn't take much effort to make someone else life just that little bit more bearable.