I was just trying to pick up something to eat at a convenience store near the National Mall.
This other shopper gave me one of his stares. You might think he is a cop, but it takes a while just
to say “hi.” He left the store after finding something to eat. I was trying to find even basic
living. I was at the 2nd and D shelter but had been over by Miriam’s Kitchen. Months later I saw the
guy again, just trying to talk to someone new. It is tough. In March 2013 I started selling Street
Sense. The first day it took a while to sell my first paper.
Well, I seen him again a couple of months later. At first, trying to sell the paper means talking and
showing articles but we said hi to eachother. He worked by the National Mall, so I went there to talk
to him and he said if I wanted money to pay for a motel he would help. I did not readily accept the
offer. The skeptic in me was saying, “is it really a room?”
Well, later I was able to get a tent from two men who lived in Cumberland, Maryland, and a sleeping
bag. Sometimes, just asking for the basic living things for life is hard. You think, Has it got this
bad? Yes, it has. But I accepted that room. To get mea motel by myself, to just relax, felt so good,
and a shower.
The next day I felt better! Major, as I call him now – well his luck turned around too. He had
confided to me that he had a legal problem. Judge said take the armed services. He did. He made it
all the way to a Master SGT. Now he trains troops!
