Uncompromising Circumstances?

This afternoon we had a leftover party at the office following yesterday’s thanksgiving potluck. We ate, we talked and at the end of all, my friend Jaz said we should take the rest of the food and give it to the homeless who hang around the park on Wednesdays on account of the Farmer’s market. We walked across Main Street and set the platters on the pavement. There were several homeless people taking naps thanks to the cool afternoon weather. I proceeded to wake some of them up and tell them to eat. The first guy I woke looked very familiar. It felt like I’d known him a while ago and yet, it I couldn’t put a name to the face. I walked over, woke the others up while Jaz and Will distributed the plates and set the platters. As the others gathered around to serve themselves, I kept looking at this guy trying to recollect where I might have seen him.

Eric?” He turned around and said, “Yes?” Then it dawned upon me. I used to talk to this guy every morning when I stopped over at Starbucks to get my coffee. Those were the days when I used to ride the bus to work, alight on Santa Monica Boulevard and walk across the 3rd Street Promenade before getting to work. It was an everyday ritual. Eric and I used to talk about coffees, teas and everything under the sun! He used to work at that Starbucks, standing behind the cash register, cracking jokes and generally relieving everyone from their morning grogginess. He was just another happy guy. Until, I saw him this afternoon. He appeared to have been homeless just for a few days. There he was with sleepy eyes, three day stubble, bare feet and just a flimsy leather jacket to keep him warm. He told me that he’d been waiting for a disability check to come through for the last five to six years and eventually he had been made redundant. But ending up on the streets? Nobody deserves to end up like this. There was a flurry of words corroborating that it could be related to substance abuse or simply a choice to not work. Eric didn't look like he was smoking crack or as if he had a raging alcoholic problem. Just circumstances, I'd choose to believe. I have never felt this helpless.

The turn of events today has been something. Just this morning I had walked into that very Starbucks to satiate my craving for peppermint mocha. My eyes were searching for those two apprentices who used to work there back in the day and were more than acquaintances to me. Eric and Sari, my morning buddies. Sari was a beautiful girl, an aspiring stage actress who was in school and working part time. I would always talk to her and Eric every morning. What’s really overwhelming is just this morning while I was waiting for my order, Sari walked in and I greeted her. She looked beautiful as ever, but she didn’t work there anymore. As for me, I had assumed that the chances of seeing her or Eric again would be slim. Everyone moves on. It was just another coincidence I’d said to myself a few hours ago.