\nYears ago I knew someone who seemed like a smoker. However, when you got to know him, you realized he definitely wasn’t. In his apartment was no trace of smoking – and that was in the era when people could smoke in their places. Anyway, let’s call him Mr X, for the sake of a name.<\/p>\n
\nI didn’t know Mr X very well, but a lot better than most. The books on his shelves spoke of worlds he was interested in – such as horror fiction – that he never brought up in conversation. Obviously he was a very private person: he didn’t want people to know his thoughts. At the same time, he was open to conversation.<\/p>\n
I went over to his apartment occasionally. I always brought coffee because he didn’t drink it. He’d typically have a beer – one only. We’d conversate spontaneously.<\/p>\n
For a long time, his apartment didn’t change; everything was always neatly in its place. Then, one time, it did: a white lighter showed up on a table. It was so incongruous to his non-smoking lifestyle, I expected him to explain it. He didn’t owe me an explanation, of course. However, I thought it would become a conversation piece.<\/p>\n
Notably, the lighter didn’t seem to have a “place” to be, while everything else in his apartment did. He didn’t leave things lying on tables or the counter; everything was always put away. That the lighter wasn’t, made me think it was temporary: perhaps someone had left it there, then so had he, so they’d see it when they returned.<\/p>\n
Yet, six weeks later, the lighter was still there, in that same, strange place out in the open on a table. It had become part of the landscape, apparently. Yet, even the most casual visitor could see it didn’t belong there.<\/p>\n
Mr X never explained the lighter to me. Eventually I left town, never to return to his apartment, even though I’d say we parted on good terms. I still wonder about that lighter, and what it meant. He knew I noticed it, yet we neither acknowledged it.<\/p>\nJack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane,<\/a> Campbell River, BC.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor mentions a change in an environment he noticed. Years ago I knew someone who seemed like a smoker. However, when you got to know him, you realized he definitely wasn’t. …<\/p>\n