There was a scary old man in my neighborhood

This is going to be a long story, but let me tell it.

Okay.

When I was a kid, there was a scary old man near the park where we always played.
He was bald, wrinkled, extremely skinny, and had piercing eyes.

We were naughty kids from the countryside, always doing pranks and dangerous stuff, and whenever the old man caught us, he would scold us.

We would tie a jump rope into a loop on the horizontal bar, first hanging by our feet, and then escalating to hanging by our chins.

We got bored of riding the seesaw normally, so we tried standing on the edge and jumping off.

You shoot with an air gun, right?

>>12
Back then, air guns were pretty expensive.

Whenever our play was peaking, the old man in his work clothes would rush out and yell,
"Hey!! What dangerous thing are you doing!!" Every time, we would shout, "Shut up, bald old man!!" and run away.

The old man always appeared at the height of our fun, so we found him incredibly annoying.
We decided to tell our parents and have them deal with him.

Me: "Hey mom, there's a scary bald man in the park who always chases us while yelling."

Mom: "That's because you kids must be doing something bad! What did you do?!"

Me: "Uh, nothing..."

Mom: "Tell me the truth. What did you do?!"

Me: "Uh..."

It backfired completely.
I cried and complained, "Mom doesn't believe anything I say and sides with that bald guy."
But she relentlessly questioned me until I confessed and scolded me harshly.

The next day, we gathered at the park and shared the results of our tattling plan, but everyone had the same outcome.
We were all scolded by our parents, and we felt humiliated. So we decided to get back at the bald old man.

At that time, there were these small explosive balls that would pop when thrown against a hard surface. We planned to throw them at the old man's house and then hit him with water balloons (small balloons filled with water that would burst on impact) when he came out.

But first, we needed money.

So we rode our bikes around the neighborhood, collecting empty bottles left in front of houses.
Back then, you could sell empty bottles at the local supermarket.
We were used to this method for buying ice cream, so we quickly earned 500-600 yen.

The bald guy is right.

We went to a nearby store run by an elderly couple that sold stationery, toys, and snacks to get our supplies.
We bought a bag of explosive balls each (I think there were 5-6 in a bag) and 10 water balloons.
While discussing what to do with the leftover money, Tetsu-chan went ahead and bought rocket fireworks.

We headed to the park, lined up in front of the old man's house, and prepared ourselves.
Everyone was half scared but excited. I gave the command with a voice cracking from nervousness.

One after another, we threw the explosive balls, and the popping sounds echoed.

We took out the water balloons, filled to the brim with water, and got ready.

Oh, those were pop balls.

...But the old man didn't come out.
"Is he not home?" "That's weird." "Did we not use enough explosive balls?" "It's because Tetsu-chan bought rocket fireworks."
Our excitement and tension quickly dissipated, and we felt disheartened.
We threw the water balloons at the old man's house to feel like we had retaliated and decided to use the rocket fireworks.

Water balloons...

Someone suggested, "Let's do a war game with them in empty bottles."
We got excited, but we realized we had already sold all the empty bottles in the area.
"How about lighting the fuse and throwing them immediately?" we decided, and split into two groups, sharing matches and getting ready.
Just as we were about to start with shouts of excitement,

"Hey!! Stop that, it's dangerous!!"

We were so startled that we almost jumped and turned to the direction of the voice.

It was the old man!!

We all ran away, almost by reflex.

We had a designated meeting spot for after encountering the old man, and we all gathered there about ten minutes later.
"That was close!!" "He was there after all!" "I dropped the rocket fireworks (cry)" "I left my bike there..."
After some frantic chatter, we cautiously returned to the park, but the old man was gone.
We sighed in relief, rode our bikes around, and then headed home.

This >>1 is a psychopath.
He might become a criminal in the future. Actually, he's already doing borderline criminal stuff. He should be isolated immediately.

We repeated this almost every day.

We'd get excited while playing, go overboard, and then the old man would show up. We'd run away, plan revenge, and fail.
Looking back, that whole cycle was a lot of fun.

Then a transfer student joined us.

He was also a troublemaker, and we quickly became friends. But as days passed, we realized he was even more of a brat than us.
He came from a wealthy family and always had some money. He'd blow up frogs with firecrackers, shoot at passersby with a BB gun,
catch lots of bugs and throw them into open windows...

At first, we joined in, but we started to distance ourselves as he went too far.

Old man, run away.

Then an incident happened. The transfer student encountered the old man and got caught.

At that time, we were near the river, floating bamboo boats (and then sinking them with stones).
One of my friends was with the transfer student, trying to jump off the jungle gym.
The old man appeared, and my friend, used to it, dashed away.

"That kid was crying a lot." "Did the old man hit him?" "No, he just yelled 'Hey!' and then mumbled something."
"Hmm."

When we went to check the park, neither the old man nor the transfer student was there.
It felt awkward, and we disbanded for the day.

>>1 is a bigger nutcase than that old man, so stay away.

>>1 The old man isn't wrong.

That night.
I overheard my parents talking in the next room.
Apparently, the transfer student's parents had barged into the old man's house, yelling.

I did a fist pump. I thought the old man wouldn't come out anymore.
The next day, I reported it to my friends, and everyone was thrilled. The transfer student, now a hero, came and we celebrated.

But this made the transfer student even more arrogant, acting like a boss.
He refused to be "it" in tag, and always wanted to be the center of attention.
We couldn't keep up with his selfishness.

Then the second incident happened.

We were racing to the top of the jungle gym, and Tetsu-chan got there first.
But the transfer student started accusing him of blocking his way.
We tried to tell him that Tetsu-chan didn't do that, but he wouldn't listen.

Then the transfer student

pushed Tetsu-chan, who was sitting at the top, off.

Tetsu-chan fell to the ground, clutching his leg, and started crying loudly.
We quickly climbed down the jungle gym and rushed to Tetsu-chan.

The next moment, a large shadow picked up Tetsu-chan and ran at an incredible speed.
It was the old man.
We could only watch in stunned silence.

What?!

Old man...

That night, my parents went out and didn't come back while I was awake.
The next day, I heard that my friends' parents also went out that night.
Our parents didn't talk much about that night, and we felt like we shouldn't ask.

All we knew was that Tetsu-chan had a broken bone and was hospitalized.

And the transfer student transferred again.

After that, we somehow stopped playing at the park.

I knew the old man was a kind person.

That old man was actually future >>1...

It's been over ten years since then.

I've moved away from my parents and am busy with work, but two days ago, I got a call from my dad.

Dad: "Ken-chan passed away. You should attend the funeral since he took care of you."

Me: "Ken-chan?"

Dad: "You don't remember? Oh, you didn't know his name."

It was the old man.

Ken-chan...

The funeral hall was surprisingly crowded. All my old friends were there.

The old man had been a local postman. He was friendly and well-liked.
But after an accident that took his wife and child, he had a mental breakdown, left his job, and moved away.
When he returned, he was a changed man. He worked as a night cleaner at a food factory.
And during the day, he watched over us, worried that we might end up like his child.

Our parents knew all of this.
"Thanks to Ken-chan, we could let our kids play outside without worry."
That was the eulogy given by Tetsu-chan's parents.

Huh?
He was an acquaintance?

Even after that incident, the old man continued to watch over the kids. The park where I played was gone due to river construction, but even after moving, he lived near another park, keeping an eye on the children. The people gathered at the funeral hall were the parents of those children he had protected.

The old man's cause of death was drowning.
He had tried to save a child who fell into the river, and after getting the child to the shore, he was swept away.

"Hey, the old man's age..."
"Yeah...he was only 28 back then..."
"I thought he was older than my dad..."
"We did some bad things to him..."
"Let's at least apologize now..."

"No, it's probably okay." Tetsu-chan, with red eyes, said.
"After that incident, I became friends with him. I apologized on behalf of all of us, and also..."

"He said that fighting with us was the most fun he had."

>> "He said that fighting with us was the most fun he had."

Hey... hey...

After crying a lot, I just got back.
I wanted to write about my memories with Ken-san... no, the old man, to commemorate him, so I made this thread.
Sorry for the long post.

Old man, thanks to you, we're all alive and well. Thank you so much.

Old maaaaan!!

It's amazing that the old man wasn't caught...

>>66
In the countryside, the community was tightly knit, and the old man was appreciated.
But in today's world, he'd probably be arrested.

That's all.

If you have any questions... well, there's probably nothing more to ask...

I just realized that >>1's mom was a decent parent.

Thanks to everyone who read this.

Honestly, I might have wanted to brag about my childhood world. Sorry if it was annoying.

I also want to create such a world for my future kids if I get married and have children.

No one would marry someone like you (lol).

I wish I could have had a drink with the old man.

Sorry for the crappy thread.

Going back to being a lurker.

>>1
This was a good thread, it's been a while since I read one like this.

I think I'll move to a place near a park.

Good job.

I hope you can become an old man like him.

You guys should not only do home security, but also park security.