Doolin, 17th
I'm such a bleeding heart. As I was out walking yesterday a man waved me over from his car. An old Irish farmer, he was obviously lonely and wanted to chat a bit. So I did, and he offered to give me a lift over to the cliffs, which sounded alright. I don't normally get in cars with strangers, but he seemed harmless enough, but by the end of the journey, if he'd asked me to marry him, I'm certain he wouldn't have been joking; he just got a little too friendly, and all those creep alarm bells began to go off. He tried to get me to agree to let him drive me to the neighboring town for the festival they're having that evening, but I only agreed that I might run into him at the nearby pub.
Thankfully, I met some Americans at the hostel that were headed to the same pub (there was supposedly a good group of musicians in town, set to play there) and told them about the guy, and we all figured their presence would be a deterrent. Well, it was. He said hello, but wouldn't talk to me with everyone there. Now, I'm pretty sure – and the Americans would agree with this – that he has slightly dubious intentions. What they are, I don't know, which is even more alarming, but if he just wanted company he wouldn't have shied from chatting with my companions. But despite this knowledge, at the end of the night when he approached me and asked forlornly, "so do you still want to go to Lisdoon?" I really felt bad. It was already midnight, so he knew it was probably not going to happen.
"No, not tonight, it's already late, and I'm kind of tired," I answered, apologetically.
"Oh. Ok," he said, clearly disappointed. "Tomorrow, I can pick you up at one o'clock and we'll drive around the coastline, ok?" Why do these people have to be so goddamn nice?
"Well, I'll probably be out hiking then. I kinda wanted to hike all day, that's why I came out here."
"Oh," more disappointment. "Well, you'll be around then?"
"Yeah, I'll be around tomorrow."
"Ok, well perhaps I'll see you then?" his voice cracking.
"Perhaps, Tommy. I'll be around." And then he hugged me and tottered towards the door, leaning heavily on his cane.
I'm a terrible human being. I've made some sweet, lonely old man very sad.
2 comments:
Maybe not...I am Irish to the bone (descent on both sides) we can be very emotional as your Tommy was...but als very detached... if that makes sense...he may be out there today doing the same with someone new... : )
He probably wanted to sell you into sex slavery. Don't feel bad!
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