Early this morning--though not as early as it should have been because I overslept--as I was waiting for the prison bus to come spirit me away to this magical place of enchantment I call "my job", I was treated to a gentleman, probably my age, give or take, crossing the main, very heavily trafficked street repeatedly from the bus stop on one side to the bus stop on the other side, with side trips to a neighbors yard, in order to panhandle from the morning commuters *and* the lady who was taking out her garbage. "I won't lie to you," he said to me. "I'm an alcoholic and I have the shakes real bad. Do you have a dollar so I could buy a nip?" I paid his honesty back by lying like a rug and saying I didn't have any cash. I was also unable to provide him with a cigarette. I'm not exactly sure whether he ever got any money from anyone--I'm thinking the old lady dragging her Hefty bag to the curb and the kids on their way to their summer jobs were probably as unforthcoming as me--but he did successfully evade getting run over and eventually get on a bus himself. He may not have had any booze, cash, or smokes, but the man apparently did have a Charlie card. God bless.
Don't you wish *you* lived here?
xoxo
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