218 night in the woods - reunion with the janitor

Dear Readers,

I continued left past the Ol' Pickaxe, which was closed for the day. There, in front of me, was the very first friend I made on this journey, the janitor from the bus station!

I went up to him and said hey it's you.

There was a pause.

He finally said Yep yep. For now at least.

I told him I never got his name.

He said he was the janitor. He cleaned up, he did fixits, whatever needed to be done.

I said oh ok.

He asked me what it had been like being home again and if things were like I remembered them being.

I said "Kinda.". I kinda wanted to say no but I chose this for now. I said kinda, I don't know. I didn't even remember today.

He said it sounded like I'd been through something.

I asked him how he knew?

He said to call it experience. He said he swore that some mornings he felt every bit as old as these trees around us.

I told him something big did happen and I felt like I should've woken up today and like, have learned something. But I didn't know if I learned anything, really.

He said weeeeell, in his experience the big things didn't teach you anything but they do make you something, and sometimes you gotta wait a while and see what comes of it.

I said huh.

Then there was a pause.

Then he said welp, done an honest day's work. Quittin' time! Smelters game tonight!

I said see ya around.

He said not if he saw me first... and then he said my name.

I said haha.

He laughed a very wheezy haw haw before walking off to the left.

It was only then I said wait! How did he know my name? But he was already gone.

I then made a sketch in my journal of the janitor! About time! I sketched him out with his usual expression and some stars around. I wrote alongside: "JANITOR", "MR JANITOR", "LORD JANITOR", "BOB JANITOR", and "THOUGHT: I COULD GET A JOB AS A JANITOR AND REALLY ENJOY IT". I then drew a broom and a wrench. I put this sketch on the opposite page of the 3 weird teens.