Percy burst into our lives like an F-5 tornado. But then he vanished. And I never saw him again.
It was the Summer of 2011 when I first met Percy. Holly and I had recently moved into a new place in South City, St. Louis. We lived at the corner where the Botanical Gardens meet Tower Grove Park. Our place was decent, but our location was divine.
St. Louis is a city with a bad reputation. But if you stand at the corner of Tower Grove Ave and Magnolia, where we used to live, you would see that there is still beauty in that city.
Our apartment complex was in the shape of a horseshoe. We occupied the unit on the first floor facing Tower Grove Ave. The apartment across from us was empty.
That is, until Percy moved in.
Percy was in his early 40’s when I first met him. He’s a tall black man living in the body of what could have been a former NFL player. He was losing his definition, but he still had a rather intimidating presence.
Percy moved in with Sandra. I never quite figured out if they were roommates or lovers or a mixture of the two. Percy’s love life was a topic we never discussed.
I introduced myself to Percy as “Mark.”
“What is your last name?”
“Dodd.”
“Very nice to meet you Mr. Dodd.”
He never called me by my first name. I was always “Mr. Dodd.” Holly was “Ms. Holly.”
The most distinguishing feature of Percy is that he’s LOUD. Thunderingly loud! Like, our wall frames would shake when he would laugh loud. Sometimes I wondered if he had a built-in microphone. His voice could fill an arena.
There are two vivid memories I have of Percy. The first memory is when he came to church with us for the first time. The second is when we saw The Conjuring together.
When I invited him to church he accepted my invitation by shaking my hand with both of his hands.
“Yes, Mr. Dodd! That would be lovely!”
Holly and I were helping a new church get started in the city. I invited him to attend on our very first Sunday. And oh, Percy made sure it was a Sunday I would never forget.
I woke up that Sunday morning and got myself ready. Then I walked across the hall to get Percy. His door was wide open and there was a sound that came blasting into the hallway.
It was the song, ‘Orinoco Flow’ by Enya. It was LOUD!!
“LET ME SAIL. LET ME SAIL. LET ME ORINOCO FLOW! LET ME REACH, LET ME BEACH ON THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI!!”
“Percy listens to Enya?” I thought to myself.
I walked into his apartment and he was pacing back and forth in his living room, lifting his hands in prayer with Enya as his guide.
“HEY PERCY, ARE YOU READY TO GO TO CHURCH??!!” I yelled.
He turned down the music.
“Yes, Mr. Dodd. I have been waiting for this moment all my life.”
“Ok.”
“I’ve been preparing all night for this, Mr. Dodd.”
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Yes, Mr. Dodd. I slept in the spirit.”
“Okay then.”
And off we went. Percy had the excitement of a child going to Disney World for the first time. He hadn’t been to church in a while. This was his coming back to Jesus moment.
By this point, Sandra and Percy weren’t living together. It was just Percy, and apparently Enya.
When we got to church, Percy insisted we sit in the front row. I hate the front row, but I obliged.
The real fun started when the sermon began. Remember reader, Percy is loud. Everyone in attendance was about to discover that for themselves.
Within the first couple minutes of the sermon, when Percy heard a nugget of wisdom that he agreed with, he stood up from his chair, clapped his hands obnoxiously loud and exclaimed,
“AMEN PASTOR!!”
And he did this several times during the sermon. He might as well have been in attendance at a State of the Union address.
And that was the only time Percy came to church with us, not because I didn’t invite him back. He just never wanted to go again. I’m not sure why.
The second memory is when Percy and I went to see ‘The Conjuring’ together.
The movie was released in the summer of 2013, right before Holly and I moved to Austin. I knew that Percy loved horror movies. When I invited him to see the movie with me, his eyes lit up…
“Yes, Mr. Dodd! Thank you, Mr. Dodd!”
We saw the movie at the Moolah theater. On that particular night, I was the only white guy in the audience. Everyone else was black.
And let me tell you right now, if you have never seen a horror movie with a black audience, you have not lived. It is easily the most fun I have ever had at the movies in my entire life.
The Conjuring is a scary movie. But when you watch it with Percy, it becomes hilarious. There’s a scene in the movie that occurs in the first act. The tension has been building in the movie to the point where you know something terrible is about to happen. In the scene, a little girl slowly sits up in bed in the creepiest way possible. As she sat up on the screen, Percy literally stood up from his chair, pointed at the screen, and in unison with everyone else in the theater shouted,
“OH SH*T!!!!”
Everyone immediately burst into laughter.
The scene that everyone was supposed to be freaked out by produced the kind of laughter you would expect at a Kevin Hart show.
I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe.
And that was the last time I remember Percy laughing. Things went downhill after that.
On one occasion, Percy was acting really strange. He stormed out of his apartment and ran into the middle of the street and started undressing. He was shouting every curse word under the sun.
I ran after him to try to help.
“Not now, Mr. Dodd!!”
That was my last memory of him. We didn’t see him in his apartment much after that. Holly remembers running into Percy one night when she was walking out the door to meet up with friends. Percy was hungry and asked her for some food. She told him she would bring him food later on.
She dropped a bag of Chick-fil-a in front of his door. He never picked it up.
He was gone. We never saw him again.
Neighbors come and go. But when they vanish, it leaves a sting. We love Percy. We miss him. It’s still painful not knowing what happened to him.
“Is he okay? Is he still hungry? Is he alive?”
I hope he’s making people laugh. I hope he’s blasting Enya. I hope he’s not hungry. I hope he’s alive. I hope.
Percy, if you ever read this, I love you. My neighbor. My friend.
Dodd Squad 