A New Friend

Thoreau once said a man needs to keep his friendships in constant repair. I was out yesterday on a bicycle ride and while admiring the ocean at Preston Beach a man from El Salvador asked me if I knew the whereabouts of the bike trail. A simple question requiring only a simple answer. And yet sometimes there is a catalyst of friendship that happens. You like the person (providentially presented?) before you right away. There is no need to know the person's history, his likings or dislikings, the authors he reads. Whether it is the inflection in the voice, the contours of the man's countenance which seem the geographies of kindness, the honesty you read in the eyes...whatever it is you decide instantly, without a moment's hesitation, that this person will be a friend. And on top of that to have the same sense when this new instantaneous friend introduces you to his Columbian wife, and his little boy who gives you a gift of a morzorte (sticker or burr from a burdock plant) to your shirt, is a great gift. I think Thoreau would be as thrilled as I.