He didn’t argue after that. I carried the bags up his porch and into a kitchen that smelled of old wood and instant coffee. The old man moved slowly and carefully, the way men do when they’ve been alone a long time.
« Let me grab those. »
« Sit down for a minute, » Ezra said. « The least I can do is pour you a cup of coffee. »
I almost said no because I wasn’t the coffee-with-strangers kind of guy. But something about the way he asked, as if he half expected me to leave, made me pull out a chair.
« One cup, » I said. « Then I’ve gotta go check on my gutters. »
My neighbor laughed. It was a small, surprised sound.
I almost said no.
***
We ended up talking for nearly an hour!
Ezra told me about the neighborhood back when there were still cornfields where the elementary school sits. I told him about my life and how I’d moved in, thinking I would only stay two years.
