Meet Taz. Taz has been homeless for the past 4 years. I bought Taz a taco.
Kodak Moment |
In all honesty, he practically blindsided me. I had decided to cut off about three pounds of my curly locks at the local barber shop while we took a two day reprieve in Virginia Beach, and the day had already a warm blue sheen from the receding daylight. I was tucking my collar back behind my slightly scratchy neck when I turned my head to see him galloping over, a stitched together gait interlaced with strands of past addictions and scuffles. With the diction of a fresh faced public speaker, he immediately launched into a convincingly well rehearsed boiled down timeline of his life on the streets. As with anyone who has dealt with this type of encounter before, I could taste the point of this conversation coming to a head. Sure enough, the subject of how many green backs were in my wallet at that time came into the spotlight, and it was then that I decided to embrace the mission I had set out on all those weeks ago.
"Sure, man. I think I got a couple of bills here, somewhere."
"God Bless you, man, God Bless."
Some part of me cringed at the color by numbers lines he was rolling off of his tongue. My turn in the conversation, now.
"Actually, man...you hungry?"
Even Colgate couldn't fix that grin he flashed me.
"Now THAT'S pretty funny, man, haha."
I chuckled and nodded my head, and the hook sunk in.
"Yeah, well, I mean, if you want man, I can get you something, you know, close by, if you want to, bud."
I shifted my weight to my other foot and gestured towards the littered Virginia Beach Boulevard, lined with neon veined chain restaurant signs and soccer mom vans. He doesn't bat an eye.
"Yeah uh, so there's a Taco Bell like two blocks down, man. I like tacos man, like, for real, man."
Can't argue with him, there. Tacos are awesome.
"Alright, yeah sure, Taco Bell, man. Hey, uh, do you mind if I like ask you a couple of questions, like a testimonial, type of deal? You think?"
Momentary hesitation quickly proceeded by, what I imagine, a high pitched squeal from his stomach.
"Sure, sup' man, whatever, sounds good."
I have trouble keeping up with him over to the Taco Bell.