The old fellow (b. 1869) next door to us when I was a young boy, chewed tobacco. His wife wouldn’t let him use a spittoon in the house, so he did his chaw outside. He would sit in a chair by his back door and occasionally lean forward to spit into the dirt. I thought it was interesting and took to imitating him. My mother put a stop to that, but my father was amused.
Later, I became his little friend and sat with him as he told stories of his childhood and young manhood before 1900. Oh, how I wish to have asked more questions instead of just listening all the time. But maybe he would have thought me impertinent to interrupt his soliloquy. Sometimes I imagined he was for brief moments transporting us both back in Time.
The old fellow (b. 1869) next door to us when I was a young boy, chewed tobacco. His wife wouldn’t let him use a spittoon in the house, so he did his chaw outside. He would sit in a chair by his back door and occasionally lean forward to spit into the dirt. I thought it was interesting and took to imitating him. My mother put a stop to that, but my father was amused.
Later, I became his little friend and sat with him as he told stories of his childhood and young manhood before 1900. Oh, how I wish to have asked more questions instead of just listening all the time. But maybe he would have thought me impertinent to interrupt his soliloquy. Sometimes I imagined he was for brief moments transporting us both back in Time.