Noise

Noise

Boy, were you noisy! The minute you arrived, they all knew. They knew that you had a presence, the presence. You wanted to be acknowledged. You would get recognition no matter what. You were loud. You were life. Being in the shadows somewhere was not for you. You would never have stood for it. Now the noise is gone. The life, the emotional energy of your being, is nowhere to be found. You once said that no one who ever met you could ever forget you. How true that is. You were, you are  my troubled and lost friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Gonna Eat Something?

You Gonna Eat Something?

He crouched before her, a beefy man in his late 30s or early 40s. Where’s your family? He demanded to know. Have anybody in New York? Are you American? I am losing my room, the woman answered calmly. He had a thick wad of dollar bills in his hands. He counted them quickly as he spoke to her. After a couple of minutes, he got up. He handed her a dollar bill. You gonna eat something? Good luck. The man walked off. She shook her head; her mouth smiled a little bit. He gave me a dollar? What am I going to eat with a dollar? This is worse than the young guy giving me 4 pennies this afternoon.

 

 

 

The Walker

The Walker

At first you weren’t going to take it with you. You have 2 or 3 canes. When they came to get you, they had to wait for you to get dressed. First it was your trouser; then the grey trouser on top of that, then your double socks. And finally, there was your brace. You had trouble putting it on. It wouldn’t close properly. Your hands shook. I saw your fingers struggle with your brace. The Velcro wasn’t cooperating. I felt what you must have felt. You were losing your place and you didn’t want to go. It was wet outside; your health has always worried me and with good reason. But the man lifted you and you put your hands on the handles of your walker. The door opened and you and it were pushed  out of your sacred refuge.

 

 

 

35 Cents

35 Cents

You want to, don’t you? You want to humiliate me. Here you are standing in front of me. I am sitting down and the palm of your hand has a quarter and a dime. The coins are put in my hand. Your left hand holds a sandwich; it’s a ham and cheese, my favorite kind. I want that sandwich a lot more than the coins. The coins mean nothing to me.  I can’t tell you that. We are strangers and our lives are so different. You’ll probably never be in my situation—I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.

 

Speechless

Speechless

It happened. I knew it would happen. It was just a matter of time. You blew up, you couldn’t take it anymore and you lashed. You took it out on me. I was there, in front of you. It was easy to do because it was so painful. All the anger, the frustration inside you, came out. It had been building up. I could see it; I could feel it and I tried to keep away. I tried silence and I tried dumb. I tried so many things—none of them worked. Now you are gone and there is just disbelief and pain. What we went through together meant nothing to you.

 

 

 

15 Minutes

15 Cents

The woman walked past the person on the curb. She was dressed in an expensive ruby red long coat; her hair was painted yellow.  The woman looked down at the beggar. From her pocket she took out 2 coins and handed them to the beggar. “Thank you,” The beggar said. The woman walked on to join a man waiting by the end of the street. The beggar shivered. It was very windy and the cold penetrated her bones. “And for this”, she muttered looking down at her hand. “For this I spend hours here. Unbelievable.” She looked at the people walking by her. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and someone will give me enough to go to a warm place, a place with no wind.”