As senior James Simmons walks through the open doorway into one of the rooms at the Heritage Retirement Village, he calls out in a deep, loud voice:
"Hey, J! How are you doing?"
John Wilkins, who introduces himself as "just J," turns around in his tan armchair and laughs.
"I just eat, sleep and drink. Nothing special today," Wilkins said.
He smiles mischievously at Simmons.
"What are you doing tonight? Got a date?" Wilkins said.
This banter is part of the duo's typical Thursday afternoon conversations. Simmons is one of 14 Ball State University students participating in Barbara Bogue's Creative Writing in the Community course.
The class, English 409, encourages students to spend time with someone in the community and write that person's story.
Simmons is one of four students who was matched up with a resident at Heritage. Other participants this year have befriended children in the Delaware County chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters and Motivate our Minds as well as residents at Hillcroft Services, another assisted living center.
Partners were assigned randomly, and for a few weeks Bogue's students could only speculate who their project partner would be.
"I guess you could say I wasn't expecting I'd be playing bingo as part of this project," Simmons said. "I knew it would be something different going in, so I was sort of open for whatever it might be."
Wilkins agreed, saying he was open-minded to the idea of meeting someone new and taking a refreshing break from his everyday routine. From waking up at 7:45 a.m., eating three meals then heading to bed in the evening, his days had reached a comfortable monotony.
"He was pretty well versed on his way of life, what he was doing, and I think I was in the same boat almost," Wilkins said, turning to Simmons. "So we exchanged my way of living and your way of living, right?"
Simmons nodded in agreement.
The exchange was slow in the beginning, as the then-strangers learned about each other's interests, family and experiences, Wilkins said.
"The more we got talking and got interested, we were going good. ‘How you been doin'?' ‘Whatchya been doin'?' ‘How are ya?' You know, just casual conversation," he said.
As Wilkins opened up about his personal life, he often pulled out photo albums and introduced Simmons to his family through framed pictures scattered throughout his bedroom.
This Thursday, he walked to the armoire at the foot of his bed and pointed to a photo of his daughter, who now lives in Hawaii, and another photo of him with a girlfriend from more than a decade ago.
Wilkins paused before a large group photo of his family, frowned and said he's not sure who some of the children in the photo are. He sat in his armchair and started up another conversation with Simmons.
Minutes later, Wilkins excitedly listed off his weekly schedule from memory, smiling as he mentioned that bingo, his favorite activity, is every Thursday afternoon at 2:30.
Simmons said the man's energy is what he noticed most when they first met in February.
"My first impression of J was that he seemed pretty lively for somebody living in a retirement community," he said. "I remember when my grandpa was in a retirement community, and maybe it was just that particular place, but everyone was very sedentary. J is always up and around, moving. He loves to exercise."
Wilkins' hobbies include taking walks, watching basketball games on television — he had scribbled down the Final Four schedule in his notebook weeks in advance — and sharing photos of his numerous fishing trips to Compton, Ill.
Simmons took inspiration from Wilkins' favorite pastimes when he outlined his final writing project.
"What I really focused on was the pictures J showed me in our meetings, and some of the stories he was able to tell me, looking through pictures of his family or pictures of fishing trips he had taken," he said. "So that was kind of my focus — the story that pictures could tell."
After seven Thursday afternoons with his project partner, Simmons said he has learned enough about the writing process to better understand where to find story ideas.
"I can find inspiration for my writing anywhere. Places you wouldn't think to look," he said. "Everyone has a story. You just gotta get to know them and figure out what it is."
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