I made a homeless man cry on thursday.
Stop, right now, I know what you’re thinking: JESUS H. CHRIST, BILL?!?! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE A HOMELESS MAN CRY?! YOU HORRIBLE PERSON! I’M ASHAMED I KNOW YOU!!!!
Well, stop. It wasn’t bad.
I was stopping off by the Cub Foods down in the Old Market for a twelve pack of Old Style and there was this homeless man sitting outside, drunk, next to a broken radio that I’m guessing he dropped. I was walking by and he looked really, really pathetic and I felt pretty bad for him.
“Could I get some change for a sandwich, man?” he asked as I walked by.
I walked into the store and then realized how bad I felt that I didn’t even stop and just kept walking. I grabbed my 12 pack and grabbed him a hot chicken sandwich from the deli.
I went outside and handed it to him.
“Enjoy it guy,” I said and smiled.
His eyes got really big and all of a sudden he was crying. He looked so happy and so sad at the same time.
“I didn’t…you didn’t…oh… thank you, man!” he said.
I walked back to my car. I’m used to seeing lots of panhandlers and what not downtown. I can recognize a good portion of them right off the bat. I still hate that because of them I’ll ignore actual people who have problems.
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An accident occurred deep within keef dot net. My old entries will be back soon.
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I turned 22 yesterday. My friends all got me very drunk. I love my friends.
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Here’s another story about the homeless or near homeless
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Retracing the old steps and looking at old pictures is a good way to remember the things you’ve done. Writing down the things you remember as they come back is a good way never to forget.
Case in point:
We were standing under the cover at the bus stop on a very gray april morning. The rain was pouring down (pitter pat, pitter pat) adding a rhythm much like a high hat to everything else. Cars passed by, rain poured down, and we just sat there underneath the cover in silence.
Silence was awkward, but I don’t imagine we would have said anything to important had we been talking. Still, it always seems that I encounter the people who just want to talk to everyone.
“What do you do?” he asked me. I wasn’t really paying attention and the question caught me a little off guard.
“Pardon?”
“I said, ‘what do you do?’.” He shot me a near toothless grin. It seemed very smug. I hated him already.
“Oh. Uh- not to much, man.”
I really didn’t want to talk to the guy. It had nothing to do with him being poor and nothing to do with his horrible odor (I’ll talk to strangers homeless or otherwise if I’m in a good mood). It’s just that I was not in a good mood. There were a lot of things on my mind that I was trying to forget about and talking to strangers just didn’t seem like the way to get that done.
Still he tried again.
“Yo, you wanna buy some hash?”
That did it. I grinned. He noticed. It was funny to me at that point. I tried to maintain composure, but it was too late. Somehow this person that I was not interested in even knowing had made my day.
“Not today, man. I just wanna catch my bus.”
“It’s cool man. I just wanted to see if you’d smile.”
The bus came and I boarded. He was waiting for the other one. I paid my quarter, sat down, and laughed the entire ride to Coralville. I wasn’t in a sour mood anymore.
People still suprise me.