Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and seeing some very interesting people as I go about my own business. This post is about one of those people.
I forget exactly when I started seeing this dude around town but it was definitely when I was living in Coquitlam and continued when I moved to Port Moody. He was always in and around the area of Lougheed Mall. He was either walking near the mall, in the mall, or taking a bus to/from the mall. You definitely would not miss him. He looked to be in his late 40s, maybe even early 50s. He was always in some football getup and by that I mean American football. He’d have his football jersey on, sometimes with full shoulder pads, sometimes not. He also had football pants on, along with cleats. He’d be holding a football helmet in one hand. It looked like he’d just stepped off the field from football practice or something, except there wasn’t a field within several kilometers in any direction.
His hair was jet black, as if his hair had captured the blackness of the darkest, moonless night. I’m pretty sure it was dyed black. He kinda grew it sorta long in the back and slicked all his hair back. It wasn’t really a mullet though. He reminded me of someone you might see in the movie Grease. That was the first impression I got from him. He was a living caricature of a 1950s character from a period piece film or TV show.
I never really did hear him speak but I saw him in a lot of places. I saw him walking up North Road one sunny day in full gear with his helmet in one hand. I saw him the checkout line at Wal-Mart. I even sat across from him on the bus a few years ago.
I’ve been curious all these years as to what his story is. I suppose there exists the chance that he really was on his way to or from some real football related activity. Wouldn’t that be something? I feel though, that’s something else behind all of this. Will I ever find out? Probably not but at least I hope you’re wondering now as well.