More of a Honk than a Squeak

 

I am sitting in a chair out in some field.  On my lap is a clipboard with several sheets of paper.  I am writing something.

Off in the distance I see you walking towards me.  I keep writing but every now and then I look up to check on your progress.  You are getting closer.

As you walk past me you are close enough to glance down to see what I am writing.  At that exact moment I am writing down the time.  It is 6:57 am.

As I watch you get further and further away, I can only imagine you are wondering why I am sitting out here writing down the time.

I am still writing, and it is just under an hour when I notice a second gentleman walking along your same trajectory.  As it is not a well-worn path through this field, I can only assume he is following you, perhaps trying to catch up to you.

Again, as he passes, he looks down at my clipboard to see what it is I am writing.  It is at this point that I find it reasonable to assume people are curious, for both men have looked to see what I am writing.

I didn’t immediately notice it, but this person did not continue on.  He stopped directly in front of me and is still watching as I write this.  This, of course, makes me self-conscious and so I stop writing.

Seeing I am bothered by his presence, he turns and walks on.  Now I am wondering just how much of what I have written did he actually read.  If he read enough, he now knows he is heading in the proper direction to catch up with the first person, and he is now aware that the first person pasted my location at exactly 6:57 am.

Am I now an accomplice?  Simply by being out here in this field have I placed the first man in danger?  Not having been instructed by some second party to sit out here I doubt I am some pawn, or that I have been duped.  This location and time were of my own doing.  I discussed it with no one.

If this is some elaborate scheme, I wonder how good I would be at describing each of the men that passed me.  I doubt I’d do very well.  The only thing that sticks out in my mind, and it is because he stopped right in front of me, were the second man’s shoes.  They were very large, even oversized, red clown shoes, with yellow laces.  And they squeaked with each step.

zc