He was a fresh fish to be caught. At least the six women in the singles club thought and quickly surrounded him eager to introduce themselves.
That is until he started talking. This fresh fish quickly soured, and the women withdrew from the stranger. He was shooting out nervous words like a Gatling gun and just as quickly devouring the fresh cookies in front of him.
What may have frightened them away, drew my curiosity. I sat down next to the stranger. I saw him not as a fresh fish but a fish out of water.
While the singles club held their meeting in the living room, we sat alone in the kitchen. It turned out they held their meeting every week and knew each other and we were the new members
He started up the Gatling gun again with words spilling out so rapidly and shifting from subject to subject that before I could respond, he would change the subject.
So, I just sat there and just listened, nodding my head when I thought he needed encouragement or shaking my head when I thought he needed empathy.
For two hours he talked about his concern about a childhood friend's use of drugs and his inability to stop her habit; the friends he knew that tossed their lives away. His dating life (or lack thereof). Morocco, Malden, MA his original hometown and his views on other subjects that rapidly came and went.
Yet what I heard in his words was a caring, gentle individual.
When the meeting broke up, he asked if he could call me and just talk. (I thought he had covered every subject!) but I agreed.
We met the next day for dinner and this time he was inquisitive of my interests. Since that dinner, we have never been apart in 35 years.
I knew I was right; he was a caring and gentle soul. Shortly after we met, he helped the hospice nurse with my dad, sat with me on the night Dad passed away; Stayed with me as we mourned Dad's passing with church services that we are not of his faith; Nothing could drive him away.
As for the talking, he is still at it. It turned out he has Asperger's and once a subject is in his head, he must talk about it for hours; today's subject is the history of Spain.
Admittedly, I am no longer as an attentive listener and often get caught after one of his long orations. He will ask me. "what do you think" and I have not heard a word!