Monday, 27 June 2005 | Junior

I was glad when Junior introduced himself, because I don't know many of my neighbors, and unless I'm asking someone for photo permission, I'm not much of an approacher. It's also been refreshing to have an exchange with one of the guys on the corner that didn't involve a comment about my appearance. Apart from Junior, it's generally that or silence.

He has the bad posture that sometimes comes with being skinny and tall; his head hangs a little too far forward, so that his body forms the letter P. He's always standing within a 20-foot strip of sidewalk; I can count on seeing him when I leave for work in the morning, and again when I return home in the evening. He is a fixture, as sure as the spraying fire hydrants or the Latin music blaring from crackling car speakers.

Junior helped open a small unpromising ice cream store on my block about a month ago, which stands exactly in the center of his 20-foot domain. I think he did some of the carpentry work inside, and he's been doing his share of marketing (to me, at least). "You gotta come have some ice cream when the store opens," he made me promise (repeatedly) back in April, and May.

Recently he stopped trying to convince me, and we no longer put effort in our conversations. Hi Junior. Hi Lisa. I almost want to avoid him to save us the embarrassment. Or I guess I could eat some ice cream.