"Isn't it weird how a seemingly innocuous remark distracts you or gets you in a stew", I thought. "I'm certainly thinking too much, didn't have the best of time of late. That made me even more insecure", I took a deep breath that somewhat broke the shackles of my thoughts.
"What makes you think that I'm lonely?", I summoned some courage to ask, because I didn't want a conversation, especially with a weird old man.
"ahaa you back"...
"Oh really", I turned back, "I was never gone", I peered at him.
"Oh sure you were, long gone. Somewhere with those waves yonder", he peered back.
"What are you mister", I thought.
"To see a young man sitting alone along the beach and think he's a loner", he shrugged "It's a no-brainer"...
"Sitting alone doesn't mean that someone is a loner"...
"You see that old man and those young folks", he said as my vision followed the traces of an imaginary line he just drew with his forefinger. The old man was sitting about 50 feet off us - gazing at the horizon. He seemed engrossed in his thoughts. And on the beach, a bunch of guys was frolicking away the cool August evening.
"The old man is just another pathetic being like me who is living with memories - only memories. While on the other side those young folks like you, are in the process of making those memories", added he. "As you're sitting alone in a wonderful evening, I can say you are drifted from your path if not lost", he tittered.
"Hmmmm Life well-spent Mr. Weird. You know a lot about life", I thought.
"Well that is a pretty flimsy evidence", I smirked assuming the air of sassiness again. "Being young doesn't necessarily mean you ought to be with a crowd. Sometimes one needs to spend some time with oneself. I like to walk alone on the beach or sit and watch the sun kissing the choppy water".
"Maybe you have an old soul then", he winked.
I rolled my eyes then laughed, and he joined in. He doesn't seem much weird now.
"So you have an aversion to people". he whispered after a moment of quiet.
"Nope, I'm not what you thinking".
"He must have been a chatterbox in his younger days" I said to myself.
"What am I thinking?".
"Misanthropic"...
"Then what's it?"...
"Let me say I'm just shy of people. I do spend some time with them, but believe most of them are hypocrites"...
"You are a cynic?"...
"Guilty"...
"What do you do?"..
"Journo"....
"Interesting", he nodded, "I have a question for you. Would you say people are inherently good or bad?"..
"I think they are just people. What they do - makes them good or bad"..
"Exactly", he nodded again, "A moment of compassion even in a hypocrite can give meaning to a life. Life can bring about many dreary and unbearable experiences, but we don't quit living with the exception of few of course. It is like walking, when you take a tumble, you get up but don't stop walking. if someone wasn’t trustworthy, this doesn't mean that the whole world isn't?
There's only one way to seek out the truth about folks and that is to refrain from any sort of prejudice. Only then you will discover who is reliable and who isn’t", he tapped my shoulder and walked away. The dusk was falling as I saw his shadowy figure dwindled away in the gloom.