I have a little story to tell, or at least I will try to...
His name was Roderick.
Roderick Ethan Carter Spence...
or that is how I was introduced to him as.
With Roddy, one could never be too quite sure.
Basically, that was mostly what people knew about him.
He was called Roderick by some, Roddy by others, Ethan by a few and I suspect a very few would have addressed him as Mr. Spence. I never heard that but it seems plausible.
He was moderately tall although he seemed taller, and striking. Handsome to the point of being almost like bright sunshine. You almost couldn't look directly at him and anyone who did fell. Without knowing why, they just fell and I honestly believe Roddy could have gotten many of them to do just about anything he wanted them to do...but the odd thing is that each person around him saw something a little different. It would seem that he always appeared according to each person as THEIR version of what is handsome or hunky, or whatever. What THEY felt was attractive. Desirable.
He was a force to be sure.
While some saw a dusty blonde, others saw a white blonde, and one person once said he saw a redhead...a Ginger boy. A few even saw a brown or even black haired dude. It was almost unfathomnable that that could be the case, but true it was.
He seemed to be whatever YOUR version of gorgeous was. How did he manage to do that? I have NO clue, but do it he did. Was it intentional? Anything is possible I suppose...but, how could it be? NO clue. NONE. None whatsoever, and that also caused more questions than answers.
Yes, that was the funny thing. No matter how well you thought you knew Roderick Ethan Carter Spence, you always wound up with more questions than answers. Where was he from? He would smile that beautiful sunshine bright almost mesmerizing smile of his and say something to the effect..."Oh, here and there," or "Oh, around you know," but in truth you didn't know and probably never would. Did he have family? Brothers and sisters? What was his childhood like? Was he from the North? South? Midwest? Did he work? Had he EVER worked? College? Nothing. NO answers.
To be honest, I think most who met Roddy would have normally asked those questions just as most of us do when we meet someone new, as in general conversation...but I have a sneaking hunch most ultimately did not. It was almost as if something about Roddy said to you...don't ask. Not audibly of course, but maybe empathically. Do I know that? No. But...
Another funny thing about Roderick Ethan Carter Spence.
He never stopped, or so it seemed. He was like a moth, flitting here
and there...one minute on the couch, the next a chair or then another chair, then in the kitchen or on the patio if there was one...leaning up against the bar if there was one, and then maybe gone.
He never seemed to stay in any one place very long. He was in New Orleans one day, maybe Boise or Dallas the next. Los Angeles, San Francisco where I first met him and one minute you were laughing with him at a party, and the next...GONE.
SOONER OR LATER, it was always the same. Roderick Ethan Carter Spence...just...evaporated. GONE. WHOOSH, like a wisp of something ethereal.
No one ever seemed to know how, or why, or what had happened...he was just GONE, and that was almost mystical.
Funny thing, you would ask a friend..."Have you seen Roddy lately."
"No" would be the answer and pretty soon you figured out NOBODY had and then you would forget and after awhile it would be as if he had never been there. Or here. Or whatever. Gone and you might have the feeling like you had been a friend of a wisp of cartoon smoke, and then a slight breeze washed it away...and it was as if it had never been. People years later would occasionally remember him, and wonder...but no answers as to why. NONE.
Odd. Truly odd. Did he EVER stay somewhere very long?
Funny. But let me start from what I know...
and try to tell the story the best I can. Try to tell what I know
from the time Roddy and I, well...you'll see. You'll see.
Haunting.
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