I've got a plank in my eye, part two

the whole point of the last post was to give a background story to this one, because this was the story that i wanted so badly to tell...

so i got the chance to chat with each of my friends for a bit and then i had to leave, so... i left.
um, point being that as i walked out, i was approached by a man holding some papers in his hand. okay-- i should probably say at this point that i do get approached by a number of homeless people because i look them in the eye when i walk past. i try my best to not ignore people when walking by, pretending they aren't there. as a result, i do happen to get a lot of people who take that look to mean that i'm some loaded tourist who wants to give out cash. this is not the case at all, but it's what people sometimes think.

back up a little bit more, and i can tell you that the wednesday before this happened, i had taken the metra out to elgin. i'd bought two tickets before leaving the station-- one for out there and one for back, but on my ride out there, the conductor made eye contact with me, smiled, and then went to the next person for a ticket. this meant that, upon my arrival back to chicago, i had an extra ticket. planning to use it for the following wednesday, i'd kept it in my bag.



so this guy...
he says he's just out of jail (and shows me his release stuff) and that he needs to get a ticket to elgin. i ask how he's getting to elgin and he says he needs money for a metra ticket. so i give him my metra ticket, and tell him to swear to me that he's going to go, cause otherwise i really do need the ticket. he says he's legit. i give him the ticket and walk away, with that sinking feeling that i've just lost six bucks.

no more than four steps later, my eye-contact strikes again. this guy, he's asking for change. i tell him i have none, but i have a container of spaghetti from a dinner i was just at. now, truth be told, i was hungry. and i love mary's cooking, especially her spaghetti. and she'd made these biscuits that were just so good... *sigh
but i offer it, totally not expecting him to take it, cause people rarely accept it when i offer food. this guy though, smells it and he says yeah, he'll totally take it.



i give it to him, smile, and keep walking, fully convinced that someone was going to ask me for my coat at any moment.
but then i got slammed so hard with conviction, that i actually had to go and sit down and process the thoughts that were racing through my head in the next moment.

(to be continued)