Situations

I am having a rough morning with all the buzz saws going next to our house...  Tetsu has talked with the cutters and requested that the trees not be left like "headless soldiers" and the two of us (actually Tetsu is just trying to comfort me) have talked about the great possibilities there will be for our yard when we get more sun...  Positive thinking....

Do you want to hear a funny story or a sort of unfortunate or fortunate story depending on how one looks at it.

The unfortunate/fortunate story.  I don't have the heart to relate a funny story yet.

Tetsu was outside sweeping the street yesterday morning (this was before the announcement about the forest) when he looked up at some older man who was standing there watching him.  Tetsu said hello and the man answered but kept watching.  Tetsu stopped what he was doing to chat with the man but something seemed off...  The man wore good leather shoes though flattened at the heels which didn't go with his t-shirt and sloppy pants.  He also had on two baseball caps and was carrying a large flashlight and a folding metal ruler.

Our next door neighbor came over to talk and whispered to Tetsu that he had seen the older man wandering around the neighborhood earlier, heading into the forest, coming back out, wandering different streets.  Tetsu asked the man where he was headed... and the man didn't know.  He knew his own name but he didn't seem to know where he was heading and couldn't explain where he lived.

Tetsu called for me to get him his cell phone while the man headed down the road towards the rice fields and out of the neighborhood.  Tetsu and the neighbor tried to stop the man but he was happily insistent that he didn't want to take up any more of their time.  Tetsu accompanied the man chatting and suggesting he stop and rest at our house for awhile, all the while motioning me to call the police!

I got in touch with the police and gave them our address and Tetsu's cell phone number and they said they were sending a police car immediately.  They also called Tetsu so that they could pinpoint how far he and the man had gotten along the road.

By that time however Tetsu had managed to turn the man around and they were back in front of our house so I hurried indoors and brought the man a glass of water.

"You must be tired.  Relax before you head out again."

We guided the man into our yard and gave him a seat at the garden table Tetsu all the while assuring him that destiny had brought them together to share stories and they drank water and ate snacks I'd brought out.  Our neighbor kept them company and leaned over the fence and chatted while we waited for the police.  

Tetsu is very good at this sort of thing as he spent 30 years working with elderly residents with dementia.  He convinced the man to show him his wallet and found an expired driver's license.  He also took the ruler away from the man in case he got upset about something.  

Finally the police arrived and with them people from the city hall associated with community care.  It took a little doing but they convinced the man to join them in the community care vehicle (he did not want to get in the police car) and off they went.  The man's family had already contacted the police about his disappearance so all ended up well.  Great that Tetsu and the neighbor were so good at keeping the man occupied, great that the man was happy albeit confused.

When everyone had gone Tetsu and the neighbor talked a bit more and Tetsu said to me,

"That man and I are the same age.  He is only 65."

And our neighbor piped up.  "He is five years younger than I am.  He still has a lot of stamina left in him."

The story ended well...  Unfortunate that the man has dementia but fortunate that he was found safe and returned to his home.