My secret friend revealed: I meet him almost every day, feeling sad and guilty when I miss. Ours is not the kind of relationship where we hold hands across a small table in a quiet restaurant. We never talk, yet I worry about him as the weather turns so cold, although we don’t even know each other’s name. The first time I saw him, I had just left class at 3:15 and bought my first meal of the day from Jack-in-the-Box: a burger, drink and box of 3 egg rolls. He was the elderly, darkest African American man I’d ever seen, so black under his Hoodie that his skin glowed. He was rummaging from one garbage can to another, and as I watched while eating my burger, I realized he wasn’t coming up with anything he could eat. Impulsively, I drove over to him and called out: “Would you like to share my lunch?” He was hesitant, almost nervous as he pridefully asked “Whatcha got?” He didn’t come any closer to my car and open window, just stood there shyly. I held out the small box of three egg rolls and the two boxes of sweet ‘n sour sauce, and he inspected it cautiously, as though he’d never seen anything like that before. “They’re still warm,” I said. He gingerly took them and then found himself a place to sit and enjoy them as I quickly drove away. That was about six weeks ago. Sometimes I’ll just hand him whatever change is in my purse. Sometimes if I buy a late lunch, I’ll find him in the exact same spot where I first “met” him and share. Sometimes he won’t be there, especially if he has had a miserable night sleeping on the covered bus stop bench nearby. Then the next day he’ll apologize for missing our appointment. Can you imagine that? I know nothing about him other than the fact he is homeless and hungry. Once I asked him what he kept in his backpack, a nosey question, I admit. “Nuthin’,” he said somewhat embarrassed. “It’s old. I found it, and I keep it in case I find somethin’ to put in it.” Im not a religious person, but I do believe there is a cosmic law of compensation, a cyclic universal plan that begins with the theme of the film Pay It Forward. He and I are friends who dont require language in trusting each other. We are merely fellow students in our schools of life, but we’re still strangers and may never learn each other’s name.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:26:38 +0000
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