An Unexpected Footpath Friendship: Why Our Local Community Matters

April Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Graffiti & Street Art”

I would never have chosen you.

Was that blood on his shirt?

A man stood three feet away from me. We looked at each other for a moment. I’d worked late and was on my way home from the train station. In the moonlight, I could make out red smears on his clothes and tear stains on his cheeks.

“She’s hurt.” He said as he grabbed my hand. “Can you help me?”

For the first time, I noticed the little grey dog cradled in the crook of his arm.

“Mollie’s hurt. She’s my wife’s dog.”

Standing on the footpath was the first time I met Herman, a man in his late sixties. His wife of decades died a few months earlier. Herman and his wife couldn’t have children, but he had Mollie.

Herman and Mollie went for a stroll every evening after tea, but on this night, a roaming bull-terrier attacked Mollie, tearing at her tiny body.

I ran home, got my car, and rushed Mollie and Herman to the emergency vet at a nearby university. She lived but was never the same.

I bumped into Herman yesterday.

By chance, we stood at the same spot we met 11 years ago. A lot has happened since then. Herman remarried and, in spite of his age, had a family; two boys.

“Herman!” He and his boys looked up and greeted me with smiles. They were walking to school.

He grabbed my hand, “Hello, my friend.”

Every time I see the Friends roller door near the train station at the end of my street, it reminds me of the unexpected friends I’ve made in my local community. Herman is one of many.

We spend our lives seeking the like-minded, chosen communities with shared interests and well-matched friends.

Local communities offer something different.

Herman and I have little in common, except we live a couple of blocks from each other. I would never have chosen him as my friend; he’s nothing like me. Values and beliefs, culture, age, lifestyle — it’s all mismatched.

I’d say we’re like-hearted people, brought together by the place we live in.

Footpath friendships and other unexpected relationships are the gifts of our local community.

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