He seemed to be lurking in the Pax Wholesome Foods next to Bryant Park. I saw the cashier eying him suspiciously as he added sugar to his coffee, though he was wasn’t bothering anyone. He wasn’t asking anyone for money or even talking to anyone. He just wanted to have a warm cup of coffee.
The cashier surprised me, however, when she waved the homeless man over and started ladling hot soup into a large cup. I didn’t see the homeless man offer her any money so I offered to pay but with a wan smile the cashier just said, “It’s all right.” Thousands of times a day, all across this City and against its reputation for being harsh, small miracles of kindness like this happen and I had just witnessed one.
I asked him if I could sit with him. He shook my hand, happy enough to talk. He said his name was “Rodney”. He couldn’t tell me exactly how long he’d been on the streets but it had clearly been a long time. He wasn’t exactly all there. He had been evicted but didn’t tell me when and, according to him, no shelter was available. During the blizzard, instead of going to a shelter, he stayed in the subways.
He had been an usher at the AMC theaters two blocks away, he said. He said proudly that he had been there at the opening. The AMC theaters have been there for decades so this was a long time ago. Considering the condition he was in, he must have lost that job a long time ago, as well.
I asked him what he would want from God if He offered to grant Rodney anything. Rodney said, “I hope my cousins are okay.” Are they in trouble, I asked? He said they weren’t, but there’s a lot of pressure on them every day, a comment I didn’t understand. He had asked them for help but they threw him out. “I don’t know why”, Rodney said. “Because of my look?”
He continued, “I can get arrested for looking this!” He pointed to his slippers, he tattered jogging pants and his old jacket. “I’m not dangerous!” In a moment of surprising self-awareness he added, “Anybody wearing this, you don’t know what they’re up to.”
I left him when I had nothing more to ask and when nothing much more to say. He had been out on the street too long. He had been alone too long.