by Al Drinkle
Partway through 2021, a dedicated and time-honoured Metrovino customer retired and relocated to Victoria, BC. We went several months without seeing or hearing from him, until one afternoon when he unexpectedly strode into the shop.
Acting as if his presence was entirely unremarkable, our British Columbian friend nodded a greeting to us and began selecting bottles. I followed his nonchalant lead, treating his appearance as quotidian while I recommended a few selections that would be new to him.
He avoided small talk, as he always had, but out of genuine curiosity I asked him how life was on the island. Following a moment of contemplation, he replied, "There's a hummingbird nest outside my kitchen window. I like watching them."
This was stated with an air of finality, as if it summed up everything that anyone could want to know about his recent change of lifestyle. And it did. Rarely is such a concise comment so saturated in meaning.
