I'm Hungry
Whoosh Whoosh. That’s the sound of cars traveling at high rates of speed going down the road I’m traveling on. The cars are constantly racing over the speed limit. It’s like they are always late for an appointment. Some just speed because they can. They don’t care. It’s at least eighty-five degrees outside. The sun is beating down on the pavement making it even hotter. You probably have to add at least ten degrees to that temperature to get the real feel temperature. Imagine standing in this heat all day. What is going on with your body? It’s not good. Don’t have any water, it’s worse.
The traffic slowed to a turtle’s pace. As I neared the left turn lane in my car, I saw her. Perched on a thin concrete strip of concrete is a woman holding a sign. The concrete slab separated her from the turn lane and the traffic traveling northbound. It’s the tiniest median I have ever seen. Little shoots of grass were somehow growing up between the cracks. She was blonde, wearing a dress, and had a black backpack on. Black is the worst color you can have on. Black will absorb more heat. She had her hair pulled back. It was a brown cardboard sign with light blue writing on it. The sign read, “she is hungry and any kindness would help. God Bless”. She walked toward the cars pointing the sign toward everyone.
As I watched her saunter down the median, I looked away for a second to check the light. I looked in the mirror again, and saw her lean back up onto the median. She must have acquired something from one of the drivers. The green arrow came on and the cars took off. As I was turning, I noticed a white Styrofoam box, one of those that you get at restaurants when you get a doggy bag. So it looked like she might have gotten something earlier to eat.
About an hour later, I was traveling back through that intersection and she was still there.
I wonder if she is homeless. Where does she stay? How did she get here? Obviously, if she is begging for food, she probably is homeless. There are so many people I see that have bicycles and backpacks. There are several different areas where there are homeless camps. They have started clearing vacant lots of the trees and bushes because of so many homeless people setting up camps. Rents are out of control. I noticed two other people nearby. It was a man and woman, both had bicycles and backpacks.
It’s sad to see people having to resort to this. We have avenues locally for people but they are not open for food at night, only at lunch time.
I wish sometimes that I could stop and talk to them. I like to find out people’s stories and how they became needy. They might have a story that closely resembles us.