An encounter

My daughter had dropped me at the Vienna VA library while she took her cat Gwen to the vet ($300 to confirm that the cat's asthma is worse). I browsed around and then headed back to the house about 1.5 mile walk.

The houses in the area could just as well be in Reading MA where I grew up: Cape Cods, ranches, split levels with front lawns, some landscaping, trees and sidewalks.

My sense of direction is minus zero. I had no cell phone and I wasn't sure I was walking the right way. Unlike when I was growing up there were no children outside playing although it was a beautiful day.

I saw a man, probably in his sixties come out of a house.

"Am I going in the right direction?" I asked.

"I don't know. I live in D.C."

"I live in Switzerland," I said.

"I am Swiss," he said. "From Canton Vaud."

We finished the conversation in French and he went inside to ask his daughter for directions.

He was the only person I saw on the street for the entire walk. It felt good to speak French and see a countryman.