365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

189. Rainbow

189. Rainbow: What is at the end of a rainbow?

He meant something to me. I'm not sure why it happened or even when, but the grumpy old man who lived in house 5 became, one day, my friend.

It's not like he deserved it. Ronald was possibly the meanest person I knew -- or maybe it wasn't meanness, because meanness didn't agree with the things he did for the homeless people around town -- but he was the angriest and the most unforgiving. Crochety would be a good word to describe him.

Again, I don't even remember how our relationship progressed. One day we were simply nodding to each other as I passed his house on my daily walk around the neighborhood and he watered his neat bushes out front. Then the next day we were stopping to banter -- he loved a good debate. Before I knew it, I was invited for tea inside and we were arguing about the presedential election.

I think I realized I was his friend when he told me that he had a strange liking for rainbows. His wife had loved them. In every window of his house his deceased wife had hung strands of prisms, so the light passing through would be defracted into slices of rainbows. Ronald's house was a kaleidoscope.

He was lonely. I always knew that too. Some things you start out with knowing, and I knew the old man from house 5 craved human companionship. Maybe that's why he talked to me, even though I was frequently told I was an annoying little thing. I learned not to take it personally, because I knew he thought of me as a friend too.

When I got married, I invited Ronald to my wedding. I wasn't even sure myself if he would come and everyone else, who questioned his charm, were even less sure. Even when at the alter and about to marry my best friend, I glanced around to see if he was there. In the back row, looking extremely uncomfortable in a suit and next to my gossipy aunt, was Ronald.

He left right after. I didn't even talk to him. Although I noticed, I was too deliriously happy to let it bother me. Later though, while opening the wedding gifts with my new husband, we came across one with no card signifying who it was from. It didn't need it; I already knew, for it was a bag full of prisms.