Old Man

I sit in my brother's yard on a bench in the sun reading the paper, my cane next to me. Overnight I have become an old man due to  a left hip that looks like Dresden on the MRI. I do everything slower. Sometimes I'll look off in the distance wondering what happened to my once active life. I am reading a book every two or three days.Unable to drive, walk, sit or stand, I was moved from my condo, which I haven't seen for weeks, to his place in Bradley Beach. It is numbingly quiet here, especially at night.
I miss my friends and my old haunts. I miss Hudson County, as many problems as it has. I miss hanging out and drinking tea or coffee and reading my paper. I know people have worse problems. Boy, did I take things for granted, like walking around the park without pain. I may just be buying some time before an inevitable hip replacement. This has been a lost autumn.