We lived in a small town. Almost everyone on the block knew one another.

Weeks before a couple had moved into the house next to us. They were quiet and kept to themselves. We saw him walk his dog each morning. Often he would then head out for the day.

About a month after they moved in, we saw the fire department at their house. Firemen wandering around their home and then indicating they needed to leave. They walked outside with their dog and started to get into their car. It was winter, we thought it would be horrible to not know what was happening to our house, so we said, please, come in, you can watch from our kitchen!

Charlie said, but what about our dog? We said “he” is welcome too. Turned out it was Bwindi and she was a sweetheart of a dog we fell in love with (we would dog-sit her a number of times). So the three of them, Charlie, Catherine, and Bwindi came into our house.

It wasn’t long before my wife had a bottle of wine, some cheese, crackers, nuts, bread, and other goodies. We were laughing and getting to know everyone. Bwindie had a bowl of water, but she mostly wanted to sniff at the goodies and hope for a dropped bit here or there.

In what seemed like a few minutes, but was closer to an hour, the fire department had deemed the house safe and the fire chief rang our doorbell. They were off to their home once again. With European-like kiss to each cheek, off they went.

Less than 10 minutes later our doorbell rang again, at the door was Charlie. He told us that he wanted to give us a little gift. It was a book of poetry by C.K. Williams. Signed to Joe and Cookie, great neighbors…Charlie, Catherine, and Bwindi. C.K. Williams.

A few months later we were invited to Charlie’s 75 birthday. We met lots of people and had a great time. When people asked who we were, Charlie said these are my friends Joe and Cookie.

I never knew C.K. Williams, I only knew Charlie, he was my friend and neighbor.

His NY Times Obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/books/c-k-williams-poet-who-tackled-moral-issues-dies-at-78.html