Lowcountry Boil

Mac considered himself a pretty fair judge of people, of human nature. He figured that his 20 years of being a cop had sharpened his sense of what made people tick and what motivated their actions. On Wednesday morning he had occasion to doubt that assessment. This particular Wednesday started as sunny as Tuesday was rainy. As Mac headed down his front steps to grab the paper he felt much more chipper than he the prior day. So much so that he thought he would make up for the missed workout at the gym. As he began back up the steps he noticed that his neighbor was also retrieving his paper. Mac had never actually met his neighbor. On the rare occasions he saw him outside of his house the man seemingly restricted his scant acknowledgement of Mac’s presence with a nod and grunt. He was a few years older than Mac but a little young for grumpy old man status. Still, he seemed anything but friendly or neighborly. On this sunny day Mac decided enough was enough. “Hey neighbor, beautiful day today isn’t it?”, Mac ventured a first overture. The man at first just stared in Mac’s direction leading Mac to think the man didn’t particularly like the interruption. Finally, he replied, “If you say so.” “Boy yesterday I thought it would never stop raining.” Mac ventured further. After what seemed like five minutes of silent staring Mac decided to give up and classify his neighbor officially as an “old poop” as his dad used to call men of a certain age. Before Mac could reach his front door the man finally spoke again. “You’re that cop, aren’t you?” “Ex-cop, friend.” Mac replied. “Still.” Mac stood for a moment wondering if the man had anything more in the gas tank. “I did some time.” the man blurted out. “Lot of people did.” Mac let him off the hook. He wasn’t inclined to ask the man much about what put him in prison. “I thought that might be a little off-putting…to have a neighbor with a record.” the man offered up. “Couldn’t care less.” “Then I’m sorry…the name is Percival…Dick Percival.” “Mac Burns, friend, “ Mac turned to face his neighbor. “Should I ask what you were in for?” There was a long pause. “They say I defrauded some clients.” Percival responded. “Did you?” “I did not.”