There is a man - youngish, skinny, average height - who has started coming to church across the street. For three weeks now, I've managed to look up from something and see him climb out of a cab and up the stairs into the church. I think it is the cab pulling to a stop in front of our house, where there is no parking, that makes me look up. But each time I've seen him, I'm surprised: First because he is young, and the first day was a Saturday, in time for the 4:15 mass. At our church, the Saturday 4:15 mass used to be known as the old people's mass: There was the 9:00 Sunday AM Children's Mass, and the Saturday 4:15 PM Old People's Mass. (I don't mean that's what the church called it, just that's what we called it. We also called it the Cheater's Mass, because kids who skipped mass on Sunday would claim that they'd gone to the 4:15 the day before, knowing that it most likely wouldn't be disproved.)

So the fact that he can't be over 35 - and more likely is younger than me - made me remember him, and the fact that he's all dressed up: a neatly pressed suit, clickety shoes, hair obviously just combed down, makes me wonder.

I may be curious about inconsequential things, but I wonder a lot about this guy. He's just so out of place, and he keeps coming back, and my brain would rather ruminate on him than try to figure out where we're going to live in a few months or how I'm going to handle 3 appointments this week. So I've got a ton of questions about the poor kid: Why does he go to the Old People's Mass? What's up with the spiffy suit? The cab? Does he find what he's looking for at mass - is it peace or forgiveness or belonging that drive him to our church every week? Is he new in the area and doesn't have a car or does he come from further afield, and doesn't want to drive? Is he wearing the suit for Mass, or is he going somewhere post-Mass that requires such attire? And where could that be?

Like I said... Curiouser, and curiouser.