Dodging Faith

About 3 blocks away is a street that goes from one main road to another main road. Sometimes when I walk, run, or bike I find myself on that street cutting over to the road it leads to.

It is a nice scenic road. There are two lakes, a very big Greek Orthodox Catholic Church and a couple of big pastures with rolling acres. It is always a pleasure to walk on that road.

A year or so ago, when cutting across to that road on the street a lady would come out and wave at me or when she was picking up the morning paper and I trotted by she would give me a big wave and I would give her a big wave back.

Then one day she was standing there waiting on me. She introduced herself. Her name is Faith. She is has pretty white hair – I would guess she is probably between 60 and 70 – which means I am guessing she is about my age. We talked and we talked. Anything you say to her brings up more to say. Gad, she must be lonely.

I think either her husband or her father is senile or a strange bird and she is his caretaker. I have seen him at a distance watching us talk.

One time she wanted to know if I knew a good plumber so I told her about Jeff the Plumber. I didn’t know Jeff’s off the top of my head so she asked me for my number so when I was home she could call and get it. She called and I gave it to her.

Later she called me again and told me Jeff did an excellent job at a reasonable price. Well, good, I was glad to help out.

Then a few weeks later she called and wanted to know if I knew a good lawyer for wills. I told her we just had our will done and gave her the number of the law firm that did it. A couple of weeks went by and she called me again and wanted to know just how well I knew that the people in that firm. I said they were old reliable Mariettans, they had a solid reputation. I forgot how it went, but somehow there was a reason for me to give Faith my sister’s number because she used the same lawyer for her will as we did.

She called my sister and I think she concurred what I thought: Faith is lonely (not to mention nuts).

I suppose she stopped me about 3 or 4 times while I was on my exercise route and called me about the same number of times. She doesn’t know to shut up and let the person she is talking to to move on.

A week or two at the Post Office I was in line to mail a package. She saw me and left her place in line behind me and told me Jeff the Plumber went up on his prices, now he charges for the gasoline he uses…. I wanted to say, “So?” but held off, saying I haven’t used Jeff in a while. It seems like his gasoline he used is part of his cost, and in order to stay in business he will have to pass the cost on to his customers. Jeff is too honest, he should just raise his prices and don’t explain why.

She wanted to talk more, but luckily it was my time at the counter to mail my package. I mailed my package, jived with my co-workers, waved at Faith, pointing at my watch and got the hell out of there.

Today while shopping Senior Discount Day at Krogers I saw Faith at a distance. I worked myself around the aisle I saw her standing yapping to a lady… but better that lady than me.

Lucky for me Faith had on a red jacket, which was easy to spot with my peripheral vision without looking at her directly in the face. I successfully dodged her without even looking at her for probably 30 or 40 minutes.

Slippery, aren't I?