five thousand shades of blue
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
givin' it all away
Through the front door of the café comes an older man; brightly coloured knit rasta cap, grey beard, hardened eyes, grizzled features. Tank top, blue overalls. Slung over his shoulder was the longest extension cord I've ever seen in my life, and it's a grungy, dirty yellow. He asks me if it's $4 an hour to surf, and I correct him and tell him it's $6.
"Oh. Haven't checked my email in 3 months." (Me, thinking:
Your address probably doesn't exist any more.) "Hey. Someone there across the street told me" (I quickly think he's about to tell me that someone across the street told him it was $4/hour to surf) "you'd give me $3 for this. It's worth over a hundred dollars." He indicates the cord. I politely tell him I don't need it, but thanks and good luck.
He shrugs as if to say, No biggie, and then adds, "I gave away my 1.2 gHz Hewlett-Packard the other day."
I think that he would have been better off if he'd tried to
sell the computer and
give the cord away. I decide to ask him why he gave it away, knowing that I might very well be getting myself into weird, shadowy areas.
He speaks kind of in a ramble, and when he's done, I realize he never did answer my real question, which was really why didn't he sell it.
"I just signed the title of my truck over; my house; left behind everything, furniture, animals, family. Quit my job, steel frame construction. Left the last paycheck behind. Going to Mexico to start a new life."
I wonder if he's told anyone. If his family knows. If the left-behind animals are cared for. What do I know? — Maybe the guy's out of his mind and when he leaves he's getting on the bus to go home. Maybe he's dying of cancer and wants to run away and die alone like an old dog.
I didn't really know what to say to that because who am I to judge? Finally, I say feebly, "Whatever works for you."
Evidently it was the right thing, because he gave me the thumbs-up gesture and a toothy grin as he shuffled out the way he came.
is
this just not enough…?
