Homeless

I was on the subway one morning on my way to work, happy to have a seat since it was pretty crowded. I was half asleep reading the paper, not really paying attention to the people around me as I suddenly heard the familiar sound of a guy asking for money, combined with the commotion of the commuters trying to get out of his way as he passed down the aisle.

There are always homeless people on the train asking for money or food, but there are definitely levels of homelessness. It can range from people who look clean but may be recently sick or down on their luck for a short time, all the way down to others who look absolutely destitute with no shoes on in the middle of winter wearing clothes made out of plastic bags.

The guy coming down the aisle was in between those two extremes but definitely more toward the destitute end of the spectrum. I could smell him as he paused right next to me, waiting for people to move, slowly repeating his plea for a penny or a quarter, as I was enveloped by that strong, unwashed smell that anyone who rides the subway is keenly aware of.

At that moment, the train suddenly lurched and the man lost his balance, falling right into my lap, crushing my paper and shocking me awake. It all happened so fast, I barely had time to comprehend what happened as the whole carload of people were awaiting my reaction. I tried to help him up, and as he started to stand he looked me in the eyes, smiled, licked his lips, and clearly shouted out a guttural "YUM....." He then stood up and proceeded down the car.

I just tried to act like nothing happened as I tried to read the paper again, feeling the eyes of everyone in that car boring though me.