He walked down the same street, at the same time of the day, twice a day, every single day. I really do not know how long the man had been doing this for, but I can tell you that he had been doing it for at least the past 9 years, but I am unsure how long exactly. I am critiquing his behavior, or simply just commentating on it, but what does it say about me, that I have seen him doing this every day for the past 9 years. Maybe not every day, but nearly every day. My home office is in the front of the house and my desk in that office faces the window looking out into the front yard and beyond to the street. This positioning gives me a clear view of the man walking passed my window, and then 20-30 minutes later walking back the other way. Every morning at 8:45 AM this man walks by my window heading south and then 20-30 minutes later he walks back by my window but this time heading north. He is always empty handed when he walks south by my window, but on his return trip, walking north by my window, he has a medium sized paper bag with him.
I have never seen the man walking with anybody else, not even with a dog. The man made his walk every day all alone. He was never on the phone or even looking at something on his phone while he walked by, I am not even sure if he even had a cell phone or not. Some mornings I would sit out on my front porch with my coffee at 8:45 AM, and I would see him walking by and give a friendly wave or something. The man would rarely wave back or return the greeting in any way. I do not think he always saw me waving, he was not always looking all about himself and his surroundings. He was focused on his morning trek. A couple of times I told him good morning, but all I got back was a nod acknowledging how good the morning would be. The man never smiled. He did not look menacing, violent, or threatening in any way, he was just a serious man.
The man was always wearing more or less the same thing on all of his walks. Always wearing some type of sweatpants and a t-shirt of differing varieties. The one thing that never changed was his hat. The man wore the same old UCLA football hat every single morning. Every morning at 8:45 AM he would come walking south by my window, and then 20-30 minutes later he would come walking north by window with a medium sized paper bag; and he would be wearing the same type of clothes. When it was colder out, during the fall and winter months, he would don a long sleeve shirt or even a hoodless sweatshirt. The man always had on some black Nike athletic shoes, with long socks and his sweats tucked into his socks. He did not have any cauliflower ear but the way he wore his socks and pants like that signaled right away that he was a wrestler at some point in his life, probably high school at least. The sweatpants tucked into his socks was one of the first things I came to notice about the man, that, and his hat. The socks and hat combo are what caught my attention in the first place. When I first moved into this house, about 11 years ago now, I would notice that there were some people walking around with tucked in socks. I then realized it was one man walking with tucked in socks because he was wearing the same old UCLA football hat every time. Eventually I figured out that it was the same man, walking by my house at the same time, every single morning, for at least 9 years.
Other than the rare good mornings, I never said a word to the man that walked by my house every day at 8:45 AM and then 20-30 minutes later would walk back the other way carrying a medium sized paper bag. The man was about 6 feet tall and probably around 180 pounds, not a small man by any means. He looked to be getting older, the man was probably in his late 50s or early 60s, but he looked solid, very healthy and fit. I never said anything worthwhile or had any kind of conversation with the man. I never asked where he lived, I never asked anybody else in the neighborhood about him at all. I just assumed he lived north of me, somewhere. I always thought maybe he walked far because I never saw him around other than passing by house at 8:45 AM every morning and then walking back 20-30 minutes later with a medium sized paper bag. He always passed by my window at 8:45 AM, with out fail. He never walked by at 8:44 AM, he was never there at 8:46 AM; it was always 8:45 AM on the nose, every morning. He was better than a clock, if you needed to know what time 8:45 AM was every day. This man never even wore a watch.
There were a lot of things about this man that I would wonder about. I always wondered what was in that medium sized paper bag he would carry back with him. He never took a bag with him, so I imagine he must have had an endless supply of medium sized paper bags at his house or wherever he lived. I had a lot of questions for the man who walked by my house at 8:45 AM every morning and then walk back 20-30 minutes later. He passed by my house every single day. Two times too, and I did not know anything about him. I wondered what he did for a living, where he came from, and just who was he. He obviously had time for morning walks every single day of his life. I always thought he must have good time management skills. His time management must have been so precise because he walked by my house every morning at the exact time of 8:45 AM. I do not know what time or from where he started his walk, but it had to be at the same exact time every day. The man was able to keep the same exact pace for over 9 years! It is actually pretty incredible. I knew exactly what time it was when I would see him passing. If I missed him heading south, I would catch him 20-30 mins after 8:45 AM and see him walking north. Never wore a watch but was never late.
Day after day, I would see this man walk by my window at 8:45 AM, and then 20-30 minutes later walking by again only this time with a medium sized paper bag in hand. I was never able to tell what was in that medium sized brown paper bag. The bag did not look like it was very heavy, the man always carried it with one hand. The bag was rolled up for the first few inches and this is where the man held it as he walked. I assumed he was heading home when I saw him walking north with the bag. There must have been food or some kind of groceries in the bag. The man must get everything he needs for the day every morning, but so precise with the time. Whatever he was getting he was almost there when he passed by my house at 8:45 AM. He must have called ahead to wherever he was going too because the City Center was another 10 minute walk from my house; and he always came back 20-30 minutes after he first passed my house at 8:45 AM. Whatever was in that bag was important to the man. He always got the same amount of “groceries” every day because the bag was never overloaded or underloaded, it looked to be the same weight every day.
After 9 years I noticed that I did not see that man passing by my house every morning at 8:45 AM walking south and then 20-30 minutes later passes by walking north with a medium sized paper bag in his hand. It took me a month or two to realize that I was not seeing my mysterious walking bag man at his usual time of 8:45 AM. I thought maybe I am just running behind schedule so much I just keep missing him at 8:45 AM. Then I realized I was not seeing him 20-30 minutes later walking north with his medium sized paper bag. Since I did not know anything about the man, who knew him, or who he knew, I did not know what to make of it at first. Maybe he was sick, but he could not be sick 4 months straight. I was so curious to know where he went or what happened to him. I started asking around the City Center about a man who walked this way every morning around 8:45 AM, who was wearing sweatpants tucked into his socks, an old UCLA football hat, and generally a t-shirt. I even suggested that they may have seen him carrying a medium sized paper bag. After months of asking around the City Center and the neighborhood, I found out what happened to the man.
You could have given me unlimited guesses and I may not have ever guessed what happened to the man. Turns out the man was a famous gangster from a different part of the country, I do not even want to mention his name for fear of somebody coming after me. The woman who gave me the information was very reluctant to tell me anything, but she figured it was more dangerous for me to be asking everyone around town about the man. I told her I would never tell anybody what she told me about the man. I will not use any names, but this man was a top level mobster. He was a real mean killer, at least that is what he was portrayed as. He had the highest reputation for violence and straight forwardness. He was not to be messed with. Well he went into hiding years ago, maybe 12-15 years ago, and he picked my neighborhood as the place to hide out at. Every morning he would walk into the City Center and pick up a medium sized paper bag with $25,000 in it. He was collecting what he made in a life of crime day by day, $25,000 at a time. He had to be very careful because criminals and cops were looking for him. Well it took him 11 ½ years but he finally collected all of his money. Every day for 9 years, passing by my house at 8:45 AM and then returning 20-30 minutes later with a medium sized paper bag, filled with $25,000; and just when he had enough, they found him.