In My View: Willie, the final chapter

By Miriam L. Wallach

Issue of Dec. 19, 2008 / 22 Kislev 5769

I've been meaning to write about Willie for a while. But there isn’t much to say.

My relationship with Willie was a relationship of circumstance. I frequented the Starbucks near Brooklyn College while working on my degree and it happened to be that Starbucks which he used as part of his routine. I saw him pretty often while writing my thesis and studying for my exit exam which was near the end of my program. But now that I’ve graduated, I don’t see him at all.

I picked up my diploma on a Friday in September. As I drove down Flatbush Avenue, I wondered whether he would be there that day, calling his call, his straggly beard getting longer and longer. Lo and behold he was, and I was happy to see him as I drove by and circled for a parking spot.

Pressed for time before the registrar closed and knowing I had to get back for Shabbos, I decided to pick up the diploma first and talk to Willie after.

I went back to my car before going to see him, hoping to find a sweatshirt in the trunk to give him or something that he might be able to use. My jacket was there and so I took it, hoping he wouldn’t object that it had been made for a woman. But I was confident that if Willie did not want it, he would certainly tell me so. I grabbed the jacket, put my bag in the trunk, and headed around the corner. But I should have gone to see him first.

Willie was gone by the time I got there. No sign of him anywhere, not that he leaves a note telling people where he can be found. I asked the police officers on the corner if they noticed which way he had walked, but they did not. I am not even sure if they noticed he had been there in the first place. I just stood on the corner, jacket in hand.

I wanted to say good-bye. I wanted to wish him well. He had been part of my routine, my life and my experience for five years and with everything at Brooklyn College coming to an end, I needed my relationship with him to end as well –– except I would not get that opportunity.