The neighbor walked by me

on the sidewalk leading to

our condos and when I said

hello, he never returned the

greeting. The next day I men-

tioned it to him and he had no

recollection of the incident. I

told another neighbor and she

just said, “Oh, he drinks.” I

thought, Oh, so do I. Was that

the explanation or was it part

of it or something else entirely

or a dozen something elses,

such as perhaps he was pre-

occupied, late for third shift

work, his wife was sick, he was

groping in his front pockets for

the car key, felt the breeze and

realized his fly was open? There

are a myriad of explanations

between he drinks and lots of

something else. We are comp-

lex creatures and all are bruis-

ed reeds the priest said as he

lifted his glass and offered

cheers in his room in the rec-

tory to the cat who sat on the

window sill.