Old Man Dilfred

On pier 3, Old Man Dilfred sat on a bench throwing little white morsels out to the swarm of seagulls that had congregated on the wood decking. His ten year old grandson sat quietly next to him. It was a warm, slow, summer day and they calmly watched an oil tanker move imperceptibly in the distance. A strange nagging female voice sent shudders through them both...

You're not supposed to feed them don't ya know. Human food isn't good for them.
It ain't food.
Well, whatever it is, it isn't good for them.

Dilfred tore open a pack of something, then lobbed another piece onto the gray wood. A gull immediately snatched it up, lifting its beak to the air to swallow it whole.

That isn't what I think it is...
Well, I ain't a mind reader, ma'am.
Yes it is. You're throwing Alka Seltzer, aren't you? Good God. You're going straight to hell.
No it isn't and no I ain't. It's just an urban legend anyway.
Is it really?
Yep. Just a myth. They regurgitate anything that makes them feel sick. We tried it in the Navy years ago. Didn't do a damn thing.
Well, you still aren't being a very good example, are you.

She turned up her nose and walked away. Dilfred flinged another piece.

Ya know, some people just seem to know exactly what's right, don't they buddy.
Wonder why she'd say a thing like that, grandpa. Don't understand some people. Maybe I will better one day.
Maybe you will, maybe you won't, I reckon you might be surprised what you find out. Reminds me of yer paw though. Oh, but I won't bother you with that one. Hand me another one of those.
I want to hear it.
Hear what?
The story about paw.
Oh, maybe some day.
Tell me, tell me.
Okay, okay. You are a curious one, just like him. And I guess yer old enough, and then I guess that's where this one starts. Ya see, he were oh, Id say about your age when this all began. If it werent every day he would git home from school and shut himself in his room there. Hours and hours hed be in there without sayin a word. We didnt quite know what to make of it. Anyway it was about that time he started askin all these questions. We wouldd be sittin there at dinner over meat loaf and yer paw would ask somethin like "whats wrong with being a vigilante?" Well, your grandma and I didnt quite know how to respond to thatn so we just asked if wanted some ketchup on his.

Turns out he was readin books in there, and it didn't take long for he stopped askin questions of us. We couldn't stop him from readin if we wanted to, and yer grandma was a bit concerned about this. After all, they've been a lot written that's caused a lot of bad things. But anyways, he was only happy when he was readin so we left him be. Oer the years it didnt seem to do much harm.

After a few years yer paw went off to college. Now, college ain't for everone, but yer paw was cut right our for it. Boy would he study, and he was a good student. Oh, and he had fun. Oh you know he made lots of friends and what not. We thought college would make him happy, but after a couple years something about him changed. Yep, it might have been around his sophomore year. I can't say exactly what it was. He just wasn't as happy any more. I understand he set out to learn one thing or another and that wasn't what he found out - or something like that. He explained it once but I forget.

Well then, after he graduated, yer paw went to work. That cheered him up a little I think. And you know what a good worker he is. He quickly moved up in the company and before long he was vice president. He gave keynote speeches and went to important meetings with important people and all that. I was always proud of him, and still am. But, thats when he started to get angry. I cant say what it was exactly, but there was something different about yer paw in those days. He thought his company was up to one thing but it was really up to something else, er something like that. Im not good with the details, but there were some good hard-working people who were treated unfairly, and I believe it's good he decided to quit.

Well, then, after that is when he ran for office. I knew he'd have a hard time winning. Oh, he whips those boys all around - they cant hold a candle to him with all his smarts. But yer paw was never much of a public speaker. Thats the only reason he lost you know. Anyways, after the campaign he settled back into the job he has now. Well, and that's when everything changed. For some reason hes been calm and even content ever since. When we see him anyways. Never quite know what that boys up to.

But I guess you might say that a curious boy such as yourself, well, you might find out some things you like. But you also might find out a whole lot of other stuff you don't like one bit. And when you learn about some of the bad things out there you might feel like you ought to go out and change them. And that's when most folks get into trouble, helpin so much they make things worse. But one day, if yer lucky, you'll be able know enough about one or two things to do some good - harder than it sounds.

Maybe if you take after yer paw you'll fix a thing or two, and by the time yer his age I'll bet therell be plenty needs fixin. But these days ya dont need to worry about them seagulls - their best interests seem to be all taken care of.