By Charles Davidson
A dead cat introduced me to Moore (not his real name).
Shortly after I moved to Gilbert Street in 2001, a feline carcass turned up in my front yard. A circle of guys, including Moore, formed as if peering at a faulty car engine.
That day and in the ones following, I learned a couple of important lessons about my new neighbor Moore, a diminutive, sinewy Cabbagetown native in his late fifties, maybe sixties. One, he was unafraid to get his hands dirty, whether shoveling a dead animal into a garbage bag or crawling under a house to fix a pipe. Two, Moore and his son Roy (also not his real name) were good friends to have, but would have made fearsome enemies.
Quick example: Roy was something of a recidivist, getting in and out of jail. One evening, neighbors on then-Confederate Avenue had their front door open to enjoy a spring evening breeze. Suddenly, Roy sprinted through their living room and out the back door, apparently fleeing John Law. Another time, a guy broke into the home across Gilbert from Moore. The story goes—and I fully believe it—that Roy intercepted the perpetrator climbing out of a window and commenced to pummel him. The APD hauled them both in.
Some weeks later, Roy walked over to make sure a guy who’d been in my driveway did not also require an ass-kicking. No, I assured Roy, he was a courier bringing me work materials, but I appreciated the vigilance.
Moore is, was(?)— I have no idea whether he still walks the earth—a vanishing breed in these parts. He was resourceful, loyal, and utterly unconcerned with convention and niggling rules. A couple who wandered the neighborhood doing odd jobs lived off and on in his garage for years. They went way back with Moore.
One day, with little more emotion than if he were telling me an old tree fell, Moore said his wife had been killed in a wreck on the Grady curve. Weeks later, a new companion moved in with him.
Shortly thereafter, Moore informed me that he figured to soon abandon his mortgage and light out for the country. And that’s what he did.
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