Steve

I was questioning whether or not I should include the name of the person I'm writing this entry about. But then I realized that this person, Steve, would never, in a billion years, ever read this.

Never. Ever.

But i'm not going to use his real name anyway. I just feel better about it. Rest assured however that Steve is a real person.

Steve is a nice older gentleman. He is probably just north of 60, articulate, intelligent, opinionated, and knows a hell of a lot about a lot of little things. This man knows his shit. Problem with your ducts? Steve will tell you that you'd need to re-install the flange capacitor hub module accelerator. Or something like that. Point is this. Steve is good at one thing, and that one thing is his job.

The problem is, that not too long ago, Steve lost that job. I'm not sure why, but I do have my theories.

Steve is also a solitary man. From what I understand, he's never been married, has no family and he's lived alone for a very long time. That, combined with the fact that men can be men, things might go unchecked. In Steve's case, those unchecked things are likely psychological.

At any given time, you might look at Steve, who would be sitting alone, and Steve would be having a little chat with himself. He'd be in full conversation mode, albeit at a relatively hushed whisper level. Which tells me that although Steve clearly has some noggin issues, he's also aware that in public places he needs to conceal these little chats.

If Steve was in the middle of one of these conversations and someone walked by and said "Hey Steve", he'd break out of the trance immediately and come back to this world, and he'd say hello back. He'd be polite and talk about the weather, and find out how your wife is doing, and wonder if you ever got that duct problem taken care of. Then, after you walked away, in about 10 seconds he'd slip back into that other reality.

I feel bad for Steve, I really do. I don't think he's got much money to live on, and when I look at him I think it's just sad. How did he become this way? What were the origins of this creeping schizophrenia? Was it because he's been alone all these years? Is it getting worse because he lost his job? I really do feel awful about it.

So, the other day, I saw Steve at a local pub. He was the same, as he always is. I felt bad for the guy as I usually do. So, as i was paying my own tab, I asked the bartender to buy a beer for Steve on me, and I quickly left before he knew I'd bought him a pint.

The next time I saw Steve, I chatted with him for a while. It was the same basic conversation I always had with the man. I actually completely forgot I had bought him that beer, but later I realized he didn't acknowledge it at all, making me wonder if the bartender had gotten him one. Not that i expected anything in return, but it seemed odd. In any event, when leaving, i bought Steve another pint without him knowing.

A few days later i ran into Steve again. We chatted about the weather and ducts. But this time i wondered if he'd say "thanks" for the two pints I had bought him, as i had confirmed with the bartender that he was given the beers on my behalf. I didn't want him to buy me pints back because the guy doesn't have much. But yes, I did want him to acknowledge it. You know. It's just common courtesy. A quick "thank you" and that's the end of it. I'd even take a "hey you dumb asshole this whole thing has been a charade and I'm actually not crazy at all and i didn't lose my job and i've got a billion dollars in my pocket and I tricked you into buying me two pints of beer."

But nothing.

Steve can go blow it out his ass.