Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.
Almost every morning, I walk the neighborhood with my dog, Charlie. We set out around 6 AM. I have come to love this time of day watching as the bayou world wakes up.
Almost every morning, I see Kenny. He’s walking, too, but not in a straight line. He picks up a newspaper at the end of a driveway and carries it up to the front door. He carries the trash cans out to the curb. When he sees me and Charlie, he stops, reaches into his pocket and gives Charlie a dog biscuit. When Charlie sees him, he pulls on the leash and cries.
One morning Kenny told me that he used to stop at this lady’s house every morning. He said, “I didn’t know her, but I knew she was elderly, so I’d always pick up her paper for her. One morning there were strange cars in the driveway. A man comes out to meet me and he tells me she passed away, but that she always talked about the kind man who brought up her paper every morning.” A little act of kindness goes a long way.
This morning as I was walking, I recalled that Linda Mitchell wrote a limerick for her poem of the day.
I thought, “I could never write a limerick.” However, this limerick started humming in my head after I met Mr. Kenny this morning.
Limerick for Mr. Kenny
There once was a man who walked Edgewater Street.
Never a stranger did he meet.
He was kind to his neighbors,
offered multiple favors.
And always gave Charlie a treat.–Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 