YOUR NEIGHBOR
YOUR NEIGHBOR
The small man in the blue house
had a terrible fear
that one day
while walking to the bus stop
or shopping for cereal
a bear,
fresh from the wild,
would find him
and eat off his head.
So as a precaution
he began wearing a football helmet most places he went
and he soon noticed that people treated him differently
women wouldn’t talk to him
men thought he was the overzealous fan of a rival team
children laughed at him
and at bars
college students routinely
pounded him on the forehead
trying to bait him into a fight
or rubbing him for good luck.
But otherwise he felt safe
From the bears
So safe in fact
that he expanded wearing the helmet everywhere he went
to the store,
to the library
to church
to work.
And his boss told him that he would have to take it off
Because customers were complaining.
So he quit.
And his mother told him that it made her feel uncomfortable
At her seventieth fifth birthday
So he left without giving her a present.
And his best friend said that maybe there weren’t going to be any bears in the movie theater and people behind him couldn’t see.
So he told them to go to hell.
And he went home
And laid awake
In bed
By himself
With two special pillows
He had made to cradle his neck
When he wore the helmet.
And he thought about how nobody
understood him,
nobody but the bear.