He was visibly relaxed， using his heels to rock the porch swing back and forth. Observing the 1)antics of squirrels in a cluster of 2)pecan trees. 3)Gauging the weather with squinting eyes. Watching time stroll by.

My husband， Stephen， had been on the job a few days now， watching his customer. It was the same thing everyday. The man sat on a double swing suspended from the ceiling of the back porch， and the only breaks away from his post were lunch and 4)calls of nature.

Henry Foster was in his late eighties. A slight man in 5)coveralls with soft blue eyes and 6)wispy hair. He lived roughly an hour from us in a small community， and Stephen was tasked through his company to paint the exterior of Henry’s two-story home. At first， Stephen figured he had an anxious customer who wanted an excuse， as odd as it was， to oversee his work without being 7)overt about it. He had had customers in the past that hovered over his every brush 8)stroke， but this one 9)took the cake， candles and all.

Stephen couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Why do you stay out here all day?” he asked.

Henry’s smile vanished. He rose from the swing， leaned against the post， and cast his eyes skyward as if he would find the answer there. Stephen was startled to see tears forming in the old man’s eyes.

“I can’t stand to stay inside the house for long.” Seeing the puzzled look on Stephen’s face， he continued， “My wife died over a year ago， and everything in the house reminds me of her.”

“Oh， I’m really sorry to hear that，” Stephen said. He resisted the temptation to hug this sweet man.

Henry motioned with his hand for Stephen to come closer.

“Do you have a minute?” he asked， opening the back door. “I’ll show you what I mean.”

“Uh...sure.”

Henry proceeded to give a tour of the house， pointing out one prized possession after another， his voice quavering as he relived each moment.

“My wife and I bought this lamp when we were on vacation at...”

The tour ended up on the back porch where they sat down on the swing， sipping iced tea. Henry 10)divulged his entire life to Stephen. His wife’s cancer. The children he had outlived. The grandchildren who never wrote. When the shadows grew long， it was time for Stephen to go.

That night， Stephen related his experience to me. With tears in my eyes， I scanned the living room， staring at our antique collection 11)garnered from years of 12)canvassing small， dusty towns for that perfect bargain. Antique-ing was our shared passion. I had never thought about it that much before， attaching significance of an item to a time or place that Stephen and I had visited.

Stephen stretched out the job longer than normal， taking his sweet time with the details. Henry didn’t seem to mind. There were days when Henry cut Stephen’s work short so they could sit on that back porch swing together. Just sipping lemonade and watching time stroll by.

About a month following the completion of the job， I overheard Stephen on the phone， “I’ll be there in about an hour or so.”

“Who was that?” I asked when he hung up.

“That was Henry Foster.”

“I thought you were finished with his job.”

“Well， not exactly，” he answered with a sly smile. “I pretended to forget a few things at his house. I just wanted an excuse to go back. See how he’s doing and all.”

I gave him a 13)crushing hug.

“You are just the sweetest thing.”

“Oh， hush.”

Stephen continued making excuses to visit Henry until he ran out of excuses. He began visiting his friend just for the sake of visiting. Not long after his last visit to Henry， the early arrival of our first baby steered our lives in a different direction， then another baby ten months later 14)eclipsed our social calendar. Everything outside our home became secondary， including a sweet old man named Henry Foster.

As we immersed ourselves into our family， the years rolled by. We had two more babies， and our house demanded our full attention to accommodate our burgeoning family. Our priorities shifted. Guilt bubbled up every now and then when we took a moment to inventory our collection and reminisce about the time we bought a particular piece. Stephen would sigh and say， “I wonder how the old guy is doing.”

One Sunday we filled up our gas tank and took to the 15)back roads， soaking up the scenery. Stephen took a sudden turn.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You’ll see.”

He navigated 16)a myriad of streets unfamiliar to me， then slowed down in front of one particular house， a two-story structure with plastic toys littering the front yard and Christmas lights， one month out of season， still stapled to the 17)eaves. Several pecan trees arched up from behind the home， the winter sun streaming through their bare branches.

“Who lives here， Daddy?” one of our boys 18)piped up.

Stephen swallowed hard.

“I knew a man who used to live here. His name was Henry Foster.”

“Was he a nice man?”

“Yes， Cody， he was a nice man. A very nice man.”

“Where is he?”

Stephen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“Well，” he finally replied， his eyes misting. “I believe he went on a long vacation with his wife.”

Pulling from the curb， I noticed two squirrels chasing each other up one of the pecan trees.

他顯然很放松，時而用腳后跟蹬地，坐在門廊的秋千上來回擺動，時而注視著那些松鼠在一叢山核桃樹上的滑稽舉動，時而瞇著眼預(yù)測天氣。看時光流淌而過。

我丈夫斯蒂芬已經(jīng)開始工程好幾天了，據(jù)他的觀察，他那客戶每天都做著同樣的事，就坐在一個懸掛在后廊天花板上的雙人秋千上，只有在午飯和上洗手間時才會離開那位置片刻。

亨利·福斯特年近90歲，身材瘦弱，穿著連身褲，有一雙溫柔的藍(lán)眼睛，頭發(fā)纖薄。他住在一個小社區(qū)里，距離我們家大概一小時路程。斯蒂芬從公司那接到任務(wù)，為亨利那棟兩層高的房子粉刷外墻。一開始，斯蒂芬以為遇到了一個疑心過重的客戶，想監(jiān)視他工作又不想弄得太明顯，于是找了這么個奇怪的藉口。過去，他也曾遇過一些客戶真的會每刷一下都盯著他看的，但這位，確實是一舉一動全不放過。

斯蒂芬再也無法忍受了。

“你為什么整天都待在這里？”他問。

亨利的微笑驟然消失。他從秋千上起來，斜靠著柱子，目光投向天空，仿佛他能從那里得到答案。當(dāng)看到那個老人眼里涌出的淚水時，斯蒂芬嚇了一跳。

“我無法忍受長時間待在屋子里面?！笨吹剿沟俜乙荒樀囊苫?，他繼續(xù)說道：“我妻子一年前去世了，屋子里的每一件東西都使我想起她?！?/p>

“噢，聽到你這么說，我很難過?！彼沟俜艺f道。他克制住想擁抱這位和藹的老人的沖動。

亨利動了動手，示意斯蒂芬靠近一些。

“你有空嗎？”他邊問，邊打開后門，“我慢慢解釋給你聽。”

“嗯……好啊?！?/p>

接著，亨利帶著斯蒂芬在屋子里逛了一圈，指著一件又一件寶貝物品，用顫抖的聲音憶述著每個珍貴時刻。

“這盞燈是我和妻子在度假時買的，那是在……”

參觀完房子，他們來到后廊，坐在秋千上，啜著冰茶。亨利向斯蒂芬講述了自己一生的故事，毫無保留。妻子患癌，孩子比自己早死，孫子們從不給他寫信。黃昏，影子都拉長了，斯蒂芬差不多要離開了。

晚上，斯蒂芬把那天的所見所聞告訴了我。淚盈滿眶的我環(huán)視客廳，凝望著我們收藏的古董，都是我們多年來逛遍不少古老的小鎮(zhèn)淘回來的物美價廉的寶貝。收藏古董是我和斯蒂芬的共同愛好。這方面，我之前從沒想太多，沒想過藏品的價值會與某段時光或者我倆曾游之處相聯(lián)。

這次的工程，斯蒂芬花了比平常要多的時間來完成，他不緊不慢地盡心于細(xì)節(jié)。亨利似乎也不介意。有些時日，亨利會打斷斯蒂芬的工作，這樣他們就能一起坐在后廊的秋千上，喝著檸檬汁，看著時間悠悠流逝。

工程結(jié)束大約一個月后，我無意中聽到斯蒂芬在電話里說，“我大概一小時后到那兒。”

“你在和誰講電話？”他掛電話時，我問道。

“和亨利·福斯特呢?！?/p>

“我以為你已經(jīng)完成他那里的工作了?！?/p>

“噢，還不算?！彼苹匦χf道，“我假裝落了一些東西在他屋子里。只是想找個借口回去看看他怎么樣了?！?/p>

我給他來了一個緊緊的擁抱。

“你是世界上最最善良的人！”

“噢，小聲點兒。”

斯蒂芬繼續(xù)找各種借口去看亨利，直到?jīng)]什么借口可找了，于是他開始光明正大地為看朋友而去看他的朋友。他最后一次去看亨利之后不久，我們的第一個孩子提早到來，我們的生活重心從此改變。10個月后，另一個孩子也出生了，更是讓我們沒有了任何的社交活動。我們家以外的所有東西都成了次要的，包括一個名叫亨利·福斯特的友善的老頭。

我們完全沉浸在家庭生活的同時，年月也在一點一點流逝。我們后來又有了兩個孩子，家里人丁興旺，我們得全副心思考慮怎么改裝房子才能住得舒舒服服。我們的生活重心轉(zhuǎn)移了。每當(dāng)我們花些時間盤點我們收藏的東西，回憶買下每件特別物品的那些時光時，內(nèi)疚感就會不時地涌上心頭。斯蒂芬總會嘆息地說：“不知道那老頭怎么樣了?！?/p>

一個周日，我們給車加滿了油，開到鄉(xiāng)村小路上，欣賞著沿途的景色。斯蒂芬忽然急轉(zhuǎn)彎。

“我們要去哪兒？”我問。

“你等會就知道了?！?/p>

他駛過無數(shù)我全然陌生的街道，然后在一棟很特別的房子前面慢慢停了下來。那是一棟兩層的建筑物，前院雜亂地堆放著一些塑料玩具，過時一個月的圣誕燈依然釘在屋檐上。幾棵山核桃樹從房子后面呈拱形伸展出來。冬日的陽光在它們光禿禿的枝間涌動著。

“爸爸，誰住在這兒？”我們的一個兒子尖聲問道。

斯蒂芬強抑情緒。

“我認(rèn)識一個人，之前一直住在這里。他的名字叫亨

利·福斯特?！?/p>

“他是一個好人嗎？”

“嗯，科迪，他是一個好人。很友善?！?/p>

“他去哪兒了？”

斯蒂芬深吸了一口氣，然后慢慢呼了出來。

“這個，”他終于回答了，眼里閃著淚水?！拔蚁嘈牛呛推拮右黄鹑ザ乳L假了?！?/p>

開車走的時候，我留意到兩只松鼠互相追逐著，爬上了其中一棵山核桃樹。