I bought some CD’s from the little homeless man

The other day I bought some CD's from the little homeless man that stands outside of the Safeway next door to work.

Stacy says that he's not homeless. She had recently discovered that people at our work talk to the little man. Someone that she knows told her that people talk to him and get advice. So Stacy went to go talk to him.

She told me this while standing at my cubicle.

I asked her again, "You went to talk to him?"

"Yeah," she said.

I asked her why she went to talk to him.

She paused and had a sad look pass over her. It brought up all of her problems that she'd been having with her BF.

"I thought… ya know… maybe he could tell me something." She shrugged.

"Well, what'd he say?" I asked.

"He didn't really say anything, he just said a bunch of stuff and then I stopped listening."

"He's just a crazy guy, that Doris lady said he has a home. He just thinks it's his job to stand out there."

"He was messed up in Vietnam or something. He went crazy."

She sort of laughed again, but still had that sad look. I felt like she was laughing at herself.

I thought it was a funny idea that that man had a home. I remember last year on Christmas Eve, I was leaving work after dark, and knew that he was outside, so I grabbed an apple and a cup of coffee on the way out.

He was out there, near the back door of our building, in front of Safeway, propped up against the fence between the properties. He was alone out there, and it was cold.

I came up to him and saw that his eyes were closed. He looked like a thick, bearded Australian Aborigine. He had snot running down his face and matted up and icy in his beard.

I said hello and he opened his eyes and didn't say much. Just took the coffee and the apple, and didn't really move as I walked away.

"Thank ya, thank ya." He muttered.

"Merry Christmas," I told him, but didn't feel good about saying it.

I think about him more now, when I see him.

Like the other day when I went over to Safeway to buy a sandwich for lunch. He was outside, standing against the fence again with someone's dog he was being paid to watch. In the usual spot against the tree next to the sidewalk, he had left the things he was selling today. It was all stuff he had pulled out of the garbage somewhere.

That day I saw that he had a whole row of classical CD's in original 1980's style, tall packaging. I paused for a second to see the titles. They looked good. Pretty sweet. I kept walking and passed him on my way into the store. He recognizes me a little and gave me a questioning look.

"Like any of 'em?" He asked.

"Yeah, you have some nice ones." I said, "I'll come back out," and motioned that I was going into the grocery store.

"Fo' dollars apiece," he called after me. "I'll make ya a deal."

I smiled to show that I understood.

When I came back out of the store, I stopped and had another look. I ended up picking up three of the CD's and handing him eleven dollars. He took the money without looking at it or looking at me.

I told him thanks.

"Thank ya, thank ya." He muttered.

I ended up picking a Tchaikovsky, a Shostakovitch, and a Wagner. I wanted to try the Wagner out, not knowing much about him, but having heard the name. He wasn't too hot though, when I listened to it later.