The Bench in the Garden

When Theo's family moved into the small bungalow on Rosenweg, the man next door was already old.

His name was Mr Halpern. He was ninety-two. He had lived in his bungalow, the next-door neighbour Mrs Krauss said, for sixty-one years. His wife had died eleven years ago. Most of his old friends had either died or moved away. He had a niece who came every other weekend.

Mostly, Mr Halpern sat in his garden.

The two gardens shared a low wooden fence. Theo, who was ten, could see Mr Halpern's bench from his bedroom window. Mr Halpern would come out at about ten, sit on the bench with a small radio, and read the paper. He would go in for lunch. He would come out again at three. He would go in at five.

Theo's mother had said: "Be polite if you see him over the fence. Don't bother him. He's a private man."

For three weeks Theo was polite. He said good morning if he saw Mr Halpern. Mr Halpern said good morning back, very correctly, but did not engage further.

In the fourth week, Theo decided he was going to do something he was not, technically, supposed to do.

He took out a small bowl. He filled the bowl with mirabelle plums from his grandmother's garden, which his mother had given him a basket of and told him he could share. He took the bowl to the fence. He waited until Mr Halpern was sitting on the bench.

"Mr Halpern. I have too many plums. Would you like some?"

Mr Halpernlooked at him over the top of his newspaper. He looked at the plums.

He looked back at Theo.

"Why have you got too many plums?"

"My grandmother's tree had a good year."

"Have you offered them to your other neighbours?"

"Yes. Mrs Krauss took some. The Vogels took some."

Mr Halpern thought about this for an unusually long time.

"I will take six," he said. "On condition that you sit on the bench while I eat them."

Theo, who had not expected this at all, climbed over the fence and sat on the bench.