The Simple Life

The other night, I had finished work as a waitress and I was reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" as I waited to be picked up. While I read on a small wall outside the bowling club, one of the patrons came out and asked me "What are you reading?" I showed him the cover and said it aloud. He asked me what it was about. I told him it was about a young girl by the name of Scout Finch, and the experience of having her father, a lawyer, defend a Negro man during the times when there was racial tension.
He then went on to tell me that I don't need to be afraid of life, that if something doesn't work, it's ok. He said a pretty girl like me who is smart and confident (and probably studying, which I am) will always find something, will always find a way. He apologised a number of times that he was drunk and talking to a pretty girl, and that it must be a bit weird, but I told him it was fine. He told me how the simple life is best, and I couldn't agree more. He told me of how he went fishing a few days before, that he had caught fish, prepared it and eaten. For free. And of his father berating him as a child if he stepped on an ant. "Weren't you looking? Be careful of the life that is around you" were his father's words.
He explained that his family were from Maitland, NSW. His ancestors had pursued careers as barristers and mayors. He didn't want that. And he said his family were proud of him, were happy because even though he didn't copy them, he was happy and living an honest life. A simple life.
As he told me not to be scared, that I would be ok as long as I didn't let anything get to me, I wondered what had made him stop to tell me that. I know he'd already said that I had caught his eye and that he thought I was pretty, but I wondered as I sat there listening and smiling at him what had given him the urge to say something. Why did he feel the need to tell me he was confident in me? I wondered in that moment what he saw as I looked back at him, wondered what he heard in my words when I spoke. What had he seen in me that gave him the impulse to speak up?
I suppose I may never know. Another mystery of life to add to the chapters, to look back on when I enjoy a simple life.

Thank You. I'm Coming.

I stood at the base of the change, my eyes following the natural track the earth had set for me. Though I was focused on this, my eyes saw other things too. It saw the magpies chasing each other, the flying ants and moths whirring around the overgrown grass that had never known the fear of standing tall enough to be chopped off. Beyond that, it gave way to a slow army of guardian trees. Although they stood stubbornly in the way of anything that wished to overrun the space, nature had left a little path for me to follow, as if I was a guest that had long been expected to visit.
“Thank you. I’m coming”