He Came Etcetera

I

he went. he came. he rode. he stayed. he thought.

II

He walked here.
He came back home.
He went along with it.
He went away, somewhere.
He went down to the sea.
He stayed there for years, in isolation.

III

He. walked here. All the journeys between this part of the coast and everywhere else involve coming in by boat. Some residents and businesses have their own motor launches. There is a regular ferry service from the closest town a mile down the inlet and barges carry any bulky things. He came up looking for employment and appeared out of the bush with a rucksack which carried everything he owned. We think the first people to remember him were the couple who owned the caravan park where he stayed on his first weekend in town. But, in retrospect, there would hardly be a person now who could forget him.

IV

He stayed there for years, in isolation. That tiny flat, with its draughty rooms he never altered, rooms which carried a jumble of signs of hundreds of previous tenants. A burnt-out power point taped up in the kitchen, a mural in the hallway from the psychedelic days, bits of pre and post-war lino and carpet and all sorts of furniture and knick-knacks. A gold and silver painted chair, a wooden washstand, a chipped toby jug etcetera. He worked, we found out later, in a shop called The Card King in the city, only a few miles from his flat. He probably walked past under our windows for years, without our knowing. For him apparently, the last straw was that brilliant lecture he gave where one of the well-known people walked out in protest.

V

He came back on a Sunday and walked down to the beach as soon as he had set his bags down. He walked out to the sand bar and stood there for a long while looking out to sea. The tide was coming in so he made his way back to the beach. He walked along the concrete promenade kicking at some of the cans and papers which had been blown into piles against the low wall along the beach side of the promenade. The few people who passed him avoided talking to him, he noticed. They would know, of course, why he was walking here alone and what he must be thinking. He wished they could spare him their kindness and felt they almost gloated over him. Because of their attitude, all his feelings and behaviour were now public property.