That Old Geezer Who Died

My daughter came to visit this weekend.
After taking our dogs for their walk,
she said, “For all the latest gossip you can depend
upon the new neighbor next door. We just had a talk.

"She reminded me the old geezer down the block died
a couple of weeks ago. I remember, growing up, when
we kids would walk Rusty past his house, he always tried
to talk. We’d break away as hurriedly as we could back then.

‘Your Corgi is a fine animal ... a fine animal,’ he’d say.”
“You should have made the effort to get to know that man.
His family bred championship Corgis; you quite well may
have learned a lot about Rusty from him. You never can

"tell about older folks; they might have led interesting lives.
They were not always retired and in their 70's, you know.
He was a great athlete, graduated Annapolis, had four wives.
In his Navy career he traveled the world from Rome to Tokyo,

"met three Presidents, was a war hero awarded a whole chest
full of medals, even commanded the ship to retrieve the space
capsule and astronauts after one mission. He told the best
true-life stories. Not getting to know him was a disgrace.”

“Gee, Dad, I regret not ever talking to him now. Tell me more.”
“Can’t! I learned all this yesterday ... from the neighbor next door.”


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