#1

Friday, February 26, 2010

Corner of Freedom Parkway and Cleburne Avenue in front of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, 12:10 pm.

A midle-aged hispanic man is walking past the car where I pull up to the light. He sits down on the curb two cars behind us. He has a sign, but I don't read it. I take a deep breath, roll down the window, and call out, "Sir?" He hops up with smile revealing that he is missing a front tooth. I hold out the bag and say "I have a lunch if you haven eaten already." I anticipate a change in his demeanor, that he'll be disappointed I'm not offering cash. But he only brightens. "Thank you so much ma'am" and takes the bag.

The light changes and we drive up Freedom parkway. My 4 year old daughter offers to the five-year old boy in our carpool, "We made lunches for the homeless people.' "What's in the lunch?" is his obvious first question. I tell him. "What did the sign say?" I said that I didn't read all of it but the last part was "Please Help." He replies, "One of the words was ON or NO."