I’m not paranoid,
but the people spying on me are.

It’s good to be careful and watch where you step.

I went down the street, knocking on doors. I started with my nearest neighbor I don’t know very well. I think I’ve seen them around sometimes, coming or going.

I should know their names, but I don’t get their misdelivered mail. We have a good mail carrier. The neighbors are on a list somewhere of neighbors on the street, but the list is old, I’m not sure where I put it, it’s probably out of date, because people move away, sell, others buy, move in, so you never know.

There used to be such a thing as the Welcome Wagon, not a real wagon in my experience, where somebody took it upon themselves as the block chairman to bring a plate of cookies in a ribbon and say, “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

Now, people come and go and nobody knows.

That’s not getting any better. At least not around here.

So I knocked on my neighbor’s door. No answer. Maybe not home. Maybe they saw me coming. Maybe they made up their mind about me from the sounds they hear coming from my house.

Maybe I should have started the other way, one door up. I still remember that Christmas party not so many years ago, when they opened their doors, let us in, we didn’t even have to bring a gift, they gave us drink, something to chew on, and we discovered they know people, even from other countries, some of whom were there firsthand in person and listened to me talk, they were so patient. It was a party.

I wonder if they still live there.

But I started the other way, going downhill. Past the door that didn’t answer.

I had mixed results.

Some people said, “If you’re here to bring me The Word, I got it already,” and slammed the door.

Or, “If you’re here because you want money for something, forget it, I don’t have any, get a real job,” and they slammed the door in my face.

But some people actually opened the door and said things like, “Neighbor? Come on in.”

Or, “What can I do for you?”

So I’d say assessingly, “What do you think about things?”

And if they said, “Same as you,” I’d say, “Come on out and join the crowd that would now increase to two.”

So we walked further down, and then there were three.

We exulted in our growing numbers. We wondered if we should start singing. We decided not yet until we had enough to be a chorus like a choir of angels. Before that they might call the police on us for disturbing the peace.

We were getting pretty near the end of the block. There were about enough of us to be a horde.

Then we crossed over the street and became so many we started filling the street and marching to a chant.

I may have said something like, “It’s working!”

I felt almost drunk on people power.

I said, “Let’s march to Washington.”

They said, “We already are. We’re a mirror to the world and the whole country.”

So I haven’t gone back home yet.

I eat on the run. I gain strength from walking.

I’ve stopped saying, “I never knew.”

As we grow in numbers, the ground shakes and kingdoms fall.

I keep knocking on doors, as I knock on by.