(originally appeared in Tweed’s )
Truman walked around town all the time after he came home. His morning course was always different. Some mornings he could be seen walking down south of town near the train depot, sometimes alongside the tracks even, and other days he was spotted as far north as Kentucky Road, all the way up near the river. But by mid-morning he’d always end up back in the middle of town for lunch. His favorite place to eat was the Courthouse Exchange. He’d eat there every day. He was always seated at the same table i
He ordered something different every day for lunch; he often joked that this habit was something he picked up from Stalin at Potsdam. He folded his napkin under his plate the same way every time when he was done, left the same amount of tip to the same waitress. He was quiet. He always wore white. If you looked at this old man, a man who was my oldest friend, you would never guess that at his behest 105,000 people were once vaporized half a world away.