El muchacho grande

I've been thinking about Dennis and LeRoy lately. Do you remember them? I think about them every time I pass the bus stop across from the Wilkinson Center. It's been about two years since I've seen them last. I love having a schedule and seeing the same people everyday. I love being able to characterize people by the one or two actions I see them do.

There is this one house that we pass when we drive home from grocery shopping. The front step has a homemade ramp; I think it's for a wheelchair. Anyway, we call it the haircut house because we saw a guy getting his hair cut as we drove by there at two different times. He was sitting in front of the living room window, looking out at the traffic going by, getting his hair cut. Twice. Or maybe it was only once. I'm pretty sure it was twice.

I find myself characterizing people by their actions all of the time. Last year, a guy sitting in the stall next to me in the bathroom answered his phone while on the toilet. It was super awkward. He was still talking on the phone when he came out, still talking when he was washing his hands, and still talking when he left the bathroom. I was washing my hands the same time that he was, so I got a good look at him. Now every time I see him I always think of him talking on the phone while going to the bathroom. I'm sure his life is more interesting than that, but I like to imagine that it isn't. It's fun to imagine that what I know about a person is the only thing that everyone knows about that person.