Mr. White

by

Alex van der Ham

(July 2025)

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Mr. White was weird. A qualification I don't give lightheartedly, but wholeheartedly. And it wasn’t just that he wrote his last name with the dot of the i, the dash of the t, and the entirety of the letter e in one continuous stroke — though that alone was strange enough — no. And, sure, he was slightly taller than your average man, but this only drew the occasional stare when walking down the street, and was definitely not enough to warrant an article in the local newspaper or anything. There were far better reasons for me to give him this moniker. Even though, admittedly, from the outset, he appeared quite ordinary, mundane even, as if called into being simply to aid the city in filling its streets with people whom you'd expect to see there.

[in writing]