Confrontation

“You cause all of this,” said the man in agitated voice. The man who suddenly appeared in front of me was emaciated and wearing dirty clothes that I immediately assumed was another homeless grease-man with a troubled mind who wanted to start a conversation, not with me, but with the wind. I ignored him just as I had ignored many of his kinds before. His filth and his smell would repulse anyone and I was not an exemption.

He grabbed my arm and yelled, “Don’t turn your back on me!” My reflexes answered back and snatched my arm from his dirty hands.

I pulled a coin from my pocket and tossed it to him. “Here, get something to eat.” He looked down and stared at the round metal that had settled on the pavement then stooped to retrieve it. I was wrong in my expectation. Instead of heeding my words, the grease-man violently threw back the coin at me and gave me a thundering curse.