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NATURE-BOY Everyone knew him as Nature-boy, as he slipped through the darkest light. Lurking in moon's shadows he witnessed, crime taking place every night. The old Sheriff, my boss introduced us, he told me Nature-boy's full name. He said son, "If ya never hassel 'Eddie' he'll keep ya sharp'n on top'a the game." "Eddie is a mystery to all, seldom seen, viewed as the town-bum ignored by the cops. He's found in an alley near the dumpsters, or down by the empty bus-stops." "For a sandwich or a ten dollar bill, Eddie will share all the secrets you seek. He'll feel proud to have you as a friend, a cop he can trust and one he can speak." Nature-boy stood a slender 6-4 with grey stringy-long hair past his shoulder. Hot July or December he dressed the same, even when the weather turned colder. I appreciated his scraggly beard and flannel shirt that smelled a need to be changed. Plus stories he told choking down a sandwich, in a dark alley 'tween the streets we ranged. I'll never forget the night that I told him, that the old Sheriff 'our friend' had died. Or his wrinkled dirty checks, rinsed clean by streams of tears, just a town-bum cried. Through the years Eddie helped a cop solve many crimes of the desserted street. I always protected my informant's name, and he appreciated something warm to eat. It has been better than twenty years now, since I patrolled the streets of that northend. From a restaurant I sat last month with my son, outside in the alley I saw my old friend. I invited him in, to join us for pizza, but was shocked as Eddie stepped inside. Nature-boy smiled through tears of joy, as he said, "Oh man, I thought you had died!" My son told me he gave him a ride home, from the street where he slipped and fell last night. Eddie got his first ride in the city street sander, as the ice storm they both tried to fight. "Nature-boy remembered me," Jason said, "He ate my sandwich as he called me by name. 'You're a chip off your old man's block, ya both look after your old friend Eddie the same'." |
Additional Notes:
For years I patrolled those neighborhood streets while the good citizens slept. Nature-boy and myself it seemed, were the only ones awake, other than the criminal element. I've long left that neighborhood, but now twenty years later my son Jason works for that same community and spends those early morning hours plowing and sanding those snowy and icy streets.
He too, now knows the 'hungry Nature-boy', but Eddie's information is of very little value to him in his occupation' but poor Eddie don't realize that!!! 'Poor Eddie?' More like 'Poor Jason!'
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