My God he had an awful diet. You'd see him a couple of times a day loading up on the cheap peanuts and beef whips and the second tier candy bars they kept on the bargain shelf at the Ace Hardware. He'd been around forever, he and his rusty old flatbed tow truck with the words: “Terminal Towing – we'll get you There in the End” hand painted on the door. The way There and End were capitalized sometimes struck me as mischievous, sometimes as ominous.
There was something charismatic about him – he always had a smile and an aura of contentment, like he was pleasantly stoned but in control. He didn't talk much, didn't solicit conversation, but looked like he would be happy to pass the time with you if you wanted to.
He looked like that guy on The Woodwright Shop on Public TV, except scarey skinny; the kind of skinny where his pants hung straight down from his waist, no hint of a butt at all.
He died the other day. The County prosecutor, who doubles as the coroner, told me the news as we were crossing the street in front of the Courthouse. He said Gary, that was his name, had been in hospice care for a while. But I swear I'd seen the Terminal Towing truck parked in front of the Courthouse within the last few days.
Gary and his rusty truck and his dirty khaki pants and his long, tangled hair, and droopy mustache, and the friendly, contented expression on his face have been part of the landscape ever since I moved to this island. Like the sound of the sea breeze whispering through the tall trees or the dash of pepper on your morning eggs, you don't really notice until its not there.
As familiar as he was, I don't recall ever making eye contact with him. I'd see him park his truck as I was crossing the street, or see him digging in his pockets for change to pay for his jerky and candy at the hardware store, or walking down the street, always away from town, but I never really encountered him.
All this time he was dying and I didn't know it. He knew it, but I just had him pegged as an underfed, but contented stoner.
So last week my world shrank a little and lost some of its color. I never saw it coming.
I'll miss you Gary. I hope that in the End you got There.
