Today I had an estimate with an older man who lives on Robinwood Ave in Needham, with a backyard that abuts the Town Forest. I noticed a gravel path from the end of his backyard into the woods, and saw that he had several illustrations of trains and railroad tracks in his home. I had a slight suspicion of who he was, and when I saw the picture of him and his wife crouching next to a miniature railroad set in the middle of the woods I knew that I had found Jim. I told him how my friends and I had once searched for his creation and had marveled at the little birdhouses, and he talked to me for fifteen minutes about his tracks and his birdhouses and his experiences with people who had found his train set, ranging from a couple of police officers to a crazy lady whose barking dog hates "train sets in the woods and men with hats." I could tell that Jim was very proud of the little world he created, and that he was enjoying telling me all about it, and I think I played the role of enthralled listener quite well, largely because I really was one. Though he didn't sign the contract on the spot and he might not go with my services, he told me to let him know when I found the railroad set and that he would turn it on and run it for me once I did. Oh, and all those numbers that we so carefully recorded and pored over, searching for a clue as to which way to go? They were completely random, merely serial numbers that Jim painted on his birdhouses so that he could keep track of them.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Little German Soldiers
In the Town Forest in Needham there's a little train set that this guy Jim built over ten years ago. My friends and I tried to find it one night last summer, first attempting to pinpoint where we thought it could be using a map of the forest and following the waterways to where we hoped the little waterfall would be. Equipped with baseball bats and flashlights, we ventured off into the forest. After an hour of following the little birdhouses that Jim placed along the trails and painstakingly copying down the numbers on the bottom of them, we gave up our expedition and returned to our cars covered in bug bites, swearing we'd once again attempt to find the train set.
Today I had an estimate with an older man who lives on Robinwood Ave in Needham, with a backyard that abuts the Town Forest. I noticed a gravel path from the end of his backyard into the woods, and saw that he had several illustrations of trains and railroad tracks in his home. I had a slight suspicion of who he was, and when I saw the picture of him and his wife crouching next to a miniature railroad set in the middle of the woods I knew that I had found Jim. I told him how my friends and I had once searched for his creation and had marveled at the little birdhouses, and he talked to me for fifteen minutes about his tracks and his birdhouses and his experiences with people who had found his train set, ranging from a couple of police officers to a crazy lady whose barking dog hates "train sets in the woods and men with hats." I could tell that Jim was very proud of the little world he created, and that he was enjoying telling me all about it, and I think I played the role of enthralled listener quite well, largely because I really was one. Though he didn't sign the contract on the spot and he might not go with my services, he told me to let him know when I found the railroad set and that he would turn it on and run it for me once I did. Oh, and all those numbers that we so carefully recorded and pored over, searching for a clue as to which way to go? They were completely random, merely serial numbers that Jim painted on his birdhouses so that he could keep track of them.
Today I had an estimate with an older man who lives on Robinwood Ave in Needham, with a backyard that abuts the Town Forest. I noticed a gravel path from the end of his backyard into the woods, and saw that he had several illustrations of trains and railroad tracks in his home. I had a slight suspicion of who he was, and when I saw the picture of him and his wife crouching next to a miniature railroad set in the middle of the woods I knew that I had found Jim. I told him how my friends and I had once searched for his creation and had marveled at the little birdhouses, and he talked to me for fifteen minutes about his tracks and his birdhouses and his experiences with people who had found his train set, ranging from a couple of police officers to a crazy lady whose barking dog hates "train sets in the woods and men with hats." I could tell that Jim was very proud of the little world he created, and that he was enjoying telling me all about it, and I think I played the role of enthralled listener quite well, largely because I really was one. Though he didn't sign the contract on the spot and he might not go with my services, he told me to let him know when I found the railroad set and that he would turn it on and run it for me once I did. Oh, and all those numbers that we so carefully recorded and pored over, searching for a clue as to which way to go? They were completely random, merely serial numbers that Jim painted on his birdhouses so that he could keep track of them.
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