MAVEN WRITES HOME
'So this was about Walter and the guy with
the condo overlooking the sea - it was all I
could do to stand there and notice what went on.
He was so nice; he had a bread and cake route
down the coast and each morning he'd start out,
about 5:30, with his freshly loaded goods in a
silver-sided delivery truck - little mom and pop
grocers, gas-station service stores, small office
cafeterias, places like that. Every day, I guess at
least six days a week anyway - usually got home
and back again by two-thirty, three. Nice afternoon
time left. Walter would come over; they'd have tea,
or some beer, sit around talk or walk; beachfront stuff,
cheap boardwalk, games of chance. You could tell
they were good buddies. Walter got a new car one
Spring, and they decided to travel west, for a vacation,
but the other guy could never get anyone to spell his
route for him, so they wound up never going anywhere.
No time for vacation time. Walter didn't mind. I don't
know what he did for a living, or for money, if he did
anything - he never seemed to go around much. Maybe
he worked from home - stuffing and sealing envelopes,
doing telephone work, or online stuff. You know how it is
now. The place they stayed in was nice, pretty and new.
That's pretty much it. One day I heard they were just gone.
One had died, and the other had taken off. You know, really,
I never did find out which of the two had done what. It was
a funny situation like that - one big, silent mystery
almost.'
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