Come over here kid. Just sit for a minute while I tell you a little story. It was back in ’57, a warm summer day I was walking down Broadway going down over to A Street. I had seen this guy before, a local, turned into a drunk after the war. I was only 10 then, yeah those were the days. He had been sitting there, asking the random passerby if they had some loose coin. Times were tough then, it wasn’t very often this guy could score something. I had given him some the day before and he would remember that, and take that 32 cents to his windowless grave. I walked by him with a nod of acknowledgement while he gave his all to familiar jingle one last time,

“Spare some change, anyone got some spare change?”

I heard it everyday walking back from the store getting pa his smokes. I’ll always remember that drunkard who used to beg til his voice was gone, but this was his last time. I was about to round the corner when I heard a reply to his simple request.

“Hey man, get the hell off me.”

“Spare some change for a vet, please anything.”

“I got nothing, screw!”

I didn’t think anything of it but then I heard it.
It echoed down Broadway and all the way over to E Street. It was then that son of a bitch left this world.
They hauled him off to jail, which turned out good; he finally got a hot shower and a warm meal. And it was then I learned my life’s most important lesson… always carry some spare change; someday it could save your life.

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