The Good Citizen

The Good Citizen

“Ding Dong,” went the doorbell as Alex stood there. So doorbell from sixties!

After a few minutes, again, “Ding Dong.”

“Go away, nobody’s home!” came a voice from the other side.

Alex had gotten ‘go away’ before, but adding a ‘nobody’s home’ made Alex chuckle again. “If nobody’s home who’s talking?” he said, loudly. He just felt like pushing this guy’s button. He was doing this town survey because his mother was in some group. He didn’t even understand it, and didn’t want to! All his survey asked was ‘Do you feel there are enough trees left next to the streets.’ Apparently growing up dented your thinking processes, anyway, that’s what Alex thought. All he wanted was to get enough answers to go home. Mom required thirty. He has twenty-nine now.

Suddenly the door opened slightly. “What do you want?” said a male voice. Alex went through his spiel, and the door opened wider. The resident was an older man, very older. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt and stocking feet. He looked at Alex. “A survey huh. I bet you didn’t volunteer for this!” he laughed.

Suddenly Alex felt comfortable with this guy, he seemed to understand. “Mom’s making me do it,” he laughed too.

“Tell you what, move that blasted rock for me and I’ll give you an answer.” He pointed to a large rock that seemed to have fallen in his driveway.

Alex did, and got his last response. “I could get those other ones out too, if you like,” he said, suddenly realizing he could actually be helpful to someone like this guy. He had never though about older people’s handicaps before. Suddenly his mind started thinking as a fellow human being, with skills someone could use.

That day, a good citizen was born.