Broken
While on vacation in Grenada, we decided to drive around downtown which could be quite a challenge. Suddenly, I was overcome by the sight of a man sitting on the sidewalk.
“Stop,” I shouted.
Startled, my husband stopped the car assuming he was about to hit something or someone he hadn’t seen.
I said, “Look,” while pointing to this man. “Please!” “You’ve got to find a place to park.”
He drove a bit and found a parking spot.
Since we were unfamiliar with the downtown area, we had to walk several streets in search of where the man had been.
I thought I should purchase one of those shells he was selling since he looked like he was in need of a sale.
Eventually, we found him.
He was unaware I was standing next to him until I said, “Hello, I see you have some shells for sale.”
Tear filled hazy eyes glared at my me. I felt sucked in by his sadness. He was dirty with a profound odor of the unsanitary kind. It was the type of odor you knew was from a lack of any type of facilities. Yet, I felt compelled to talk to him. In one hand he had a cup of rum; the other hand held a blunt, doobie, marijuana joint. Drugs!
After briefly talking about his shells, I told him, “I noticed he was drinking and smoking marijuana at such an early morning hour.” It was 10:00 a.m.
He said, “There’s no set time for me to kill my pain.”
I didn’t dare ask what his sorrow was.
I asked, “Does it help your pain?”
No words were said. Just a tilt of the head in my direction with a curved smile that led me to believe he didn’t think I’d understand.
We spoke for a short time.
I handed him the money for the shell with a little extra. I recommended he use it for food or shelter. I told him to keep the shell so he could sell it to someone else.
As I began to walk away, he took another puff from his big sweet scented herb and shouted, “Pretty Lady” …
I turned.
He continued, “Someday, when you get to heaven, say hello to my angel. I know you’ll meet her there. Tell her, I’ll be with her before long.”
2018©written by Isadora
~ Kindness is loving people more than they deserve ~
Grant that, we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console,
to be understood, as to understand … Saint Francis of Assisi
*****
*****Definition of Broken: forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured. incomplete; being in a state of disarray; disordered;
**** I received the Bronze Award for a: Street Life/Slice of Life: A photojournalistic photograph, camera as observer.
*****This story was originally posted in February, 2014
