Two individuals in our neighborhood stand out: The Mummy Man, and Start-Stop Lady. Let me introduce them to you. (I had to draw them, because it'd just be too awkward to take their pictures.)
The Mummy Man was given his name by our kids. He walks with his face almost parallel to the ground, and never moves his arms, which hang straight down. He also has very pasty, mummy-like skin. He reminds me a lot of the kid in the orange shirt from Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.
Start-Stop Lady looks a little like the Mummy Man.
She doesn't walk with one foot after the other, but does a kind of line dance. Five steps forward. Two steps back. Rock back and forth a couple of times. Move forward ten paces, and back three. I don't know if it's random or methodical, but it's pretty fascinating to watch. My wife has spoken to her, and says she's a nice lady. Apparently she's pretty normal aside from her two-step. Like the Mummy Man, she was also given her name by our kids.
Obviously, both of them have some psychological problems. And I'm honestly not trying to make fun of them. But I really like the fact that these two are part of our kids' childhood memories. I like that they're the kind of Boo Radleys - characters so strange and fascinating, the kids are too terrified to talk to.
2 comments:
I love the Charlie Brown comparison. Love your drawings, too! ;) Yes, I agree, people like this always do make for an interesting neighborhood...and interesting childhood memories!
Ha, on my first day working at the Ridge Cinema in Richmond (remember that place?) my boss pointed to a guy walking outside and told me that he was known as Back and Forth Man. He said the guy would walk a little, turn around, walk back the way he came, before turning around again and continue walking. Sure enough, as he's telling me this, the guy abruptly turned back the way he came as my boss shouted, "See! There he goes!" I saw him a lot after that.
I bet he would be a perfect match for StartStop Lady.
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