A Meeting By The Side of An Old Country Road

A young man sat in the darkness by the side of a dirt country road. In the distance, he heard footsteps. The footsteps were brisk. As the footsteps approached, he could hear whistling that accompanied the footsteps. Soon he could see the outline of a human figure in the darkness, a man with a hiking stick. As the man was approaching, he could see that it was an old man with white hair, a short white beard, and a slouch hat. He wondered if he should say anything, or wave as the old man passed. As the old man walked by, he stopped whistling and he smiled at the younger man.

The young man did not know where the words came from, but just then he found himself asking the old man, “Could you give me some words of wisdom?”

The old man stopped in his tracks and turned to face the young man. He continued to smile warmly as he slowly approached. He was looking down at the young man sitting on the ground beside the road. He then stooped down to the young man’s level, and as he smiled he said, “Walk with me.”

For some reason, the young man picked up his small bag and stood up. The old man was still smiling when he turned and began walking down that dusty road again, whistling. The young man fell in next to him anticipating the old man's words. The pace was brisk, but the young man was able to keep up. The whistling was mesmerizing. The old man was a good whistler, and he seemed to be very happy. He walked with a purpose. The two of them walked together in the darkness for several miles, the road winding into the hills. The young man began thinking about those words of wisdom he had asked for. But thus far, the only thing he had heard from the old man was whistling.

Finally, after walking some distance more, the young man became impatient. He tapped the old man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me!”

With this, the old man stopped and turned to face the young man. When he wasn’t whistling, he was smiling. The young man became momentarily speechless, overcome by the effect of the old man’s smile. It was as if the old man already knew what the young man was going to ask.

“We have been walking for several miles now, and I asked you way back there,” the young man pointed, “if you had any words of wisdom for me. So far all I have heard is whistling. I have yet to hear any words of wisdom.”

The old man put his hand on the young man's shoulder and looked back down the road in the direction they had walked together. His smiling eyes then panned up the road in the direction they had been heading. Finally, with that smile still beaming, he looked right into the young man's eyes and said, "You asked me if I could give you some words of wisdom, and I said walk with me. "

After a moment of silence, the old man turned back out onto the road and began walking briskly again, and then he began to whistle. The young man stood by the side of the road pondering what the old man had just said. He looked back down the road in the direction the two of them had come. He then looked at the old man disappearing into the darkness. In his mind, he could still see the old man’s smile, and he could hear his whistling as it faded around the next bend in the road. It was a full moon. He could still find his way back to the place by the side of the road, the place where he had met the old man. But then again, as the whistling faded away, he knew it was not too late to catch up.

Copyright © 2011 J. Charles Dill