Guiding Light

Every morning by six o’clock, Martin made sure to be positioned out front of Maybell’s Diner to catch the morning rush. He knew this was the spot to be to get a hot meal along with a few dollars to get his fix of beer for the day. Today, though, he was late because he overslept. This was unusual for him since he seemed to have an internal alarm that would wake him at five -thirty every day. Martin realized it was because of the crazy dream he had. It was something that felt all too real, but he shook it off thinking dreams like that didn’t happen to people like him. It was what it was, a dream.

Martin shuffled to grab what little belongings he had and dumped them into the shopping cart he kept. He scurried to get over to his spot hoping he wasn’t too late to catch a few of the regulars that always looked out for him. By the time he arrived, the morning rush had just about gone. He did, however, get a chicken biscuit sandwich, a cup of coffee, and five dollars from Sam, one of the regulars.

Martin sat down on the sidewalk with his back against the building and began eating his sandwich. He had just taken a sip of his coffee when a stretch limo came to a stop in front of him. He watched as the driver hopped out and ran around to open the back door. A man who looked to be in his mid-forties stepped out wearing an expensive tailored suit. Martin envied the man. He imagined it was him wearing the pint-striped suit tailored to perfection, the nicely polished shoes, expensive watch, and smelling good.

He felt the man’s eyes on him even though the dark sunglasses. Martin felt uncomfortable and his hand began to tremble causing some of the coffee to spill out onto his hand. He quickly sat the cup down and wiped his hand with a napkin. He looked up to see the man still standing on the sidewalk watching him.

“I’m sorry for staring. May I ask you a question?” The man said.

“Wh-what do you want to know?” Martin asked skeptically.

“May I ask how did you end up here? And what I mean by that, is how did you become homeless?”

Martin stared at the man for a while pondering over the question. Flashes of his life before came flooding his mind. He shook his head trying to release the memories because it was too painful to think about. It had been a long time since he thought of his life before he became homeless. He figured it was better to forget than to carry around the burden of memories.

“I don’t like talking about it,” he finally told the man.

“I understand and didn’t mean to pry. Well, I hope things get better for you.” The man started for the diner entrance but quickly turned back to Martin. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little black book and a lottery scratch-off ticket.

“Here, I want you to have this. This little black book helped me through adulthood. My father gave this to me when I left home for college. It wasn’t until my senior year that I finally read it and implemented it in my life. I want you to have it. I hope it helps you the same way it helped me.”

The man handed the book and ticket to Martin. Martin reached out and grabbed the items. He was unsure of what to say to that but decided the man now deserved a reason to his previous question.

“My family couldn’t handle the PTSD I suffered from the war. I went to counseling and all, but it didn’t help. Then people around town started to call me Maniac Martin because they thought I was crazy. The kids at school picked on my kids and it became too much for my wife. So, she left me and took the kids. She filed for a divorce and that just caused a domino effect. I lost my job and because I couldn’t pay the bills, I lost my house. I got in my car and just drove until I ended up here. I lived in it for a while until it got towed. I’ve been living on the streets ever since.”

Martin swiped the tears the threatened to fall. That was the first time he spoke those words out loud to anyone, and it had him a bit emotional. He missed his family but knew they were better off without him. Besides, so much time has passed since he last saw them. It has been so long they probably wouldn’t even recognize each other.

“I’m so sorry you had to, uh, have to experience what you’re going through. But I know if you do what is in that little black book, it will change your life for the better. Take care.” The man turned and entered the diner.

After Martin finished his breakfast, he decided to go to the park, down by the lake. It’s where he went to count his money he got for the day, plus he liked to watch the ducks swim around. He plopped down on the bench then took the book and scratch-off out of his pocket. He stared down at both. He ran his thumb across the words of the leather binder. Your Time Is Now: A Guide to Living Your Best Life was written in gold letters. Not looking at the ticket, he placed it back in his pocket then opened the book to the first page and began to read.

Life does not always go as we planned. That is because we must first seek that which is within us to empower ourselves. If can’t find that inspiration, we are bound to go through trials and tribulations that we could have avoided had we put forth our best selves. I am not saying the road of life would be easy. I am saying there are things we could prevent from taking place if we kept a positive mindset. For we are able if only we put forth the effort.

Martin sat on that bench for hours reading the contents of the little black book. It outlined a guide anyone could follow to help them get on the right path. It helped you to find and understand your purpose and how to fulfill that purpose. There were a variety of life scenarios to assist a person in whatever it was he or she was dealing with.

By the time Martin finished reading the entire book, it was just a little after twelve noon. The rumble of his stomach letting him know it was time to eat told him so. However, Martin was wound up from what he’d just read. The book gave him hope for the future. He now felt he can work towards turning his life around. His only problem was that he had no idea where he should even begin. Yeah, the book gave great advice, but it didn’t tell him how to start at the point he was at.

He sighed and went to place the book back in his pocket then remembered he had the scratch-off ticket. He pulled it out of his pocket and turned it to face the front. He gasped when he saw the ticket had already been scratched and it was a winning ticket for twenty thousand dollars. Tears of joy streamed down his face. He said a silent prayer for this new turn of events then quickly placed his winning ticket in his inside coat pocket.

He stood and grabbed his cart. The wheels turned in his head on what he was going to do with this blessing. The first thing he did was go to his lunchtime spot. He needed to get enough money to get a room for the night so that he could shower. Within a few hours, he had enough money to get a room over at The Inn. Martin left his spot and made his way over to the Salvation Army. They provided him with a couple pairs of pants, shirts, socks, a pack of new briefs, and a pair of shoes. He went next door to The Dollar Tree and purchased personal hygiene supplies.

Once Martin purchased his room at The Inn, he went to work taking care of his hygiene. He showered washing from head to toe three times before stepping out. He then stood at the sink and with the scissors and razors, he cut his hair and beard. By the time he was done, he was shocked to see his much younger-looking face.

He took his time ironing his clothes. He wanted to look as good as he was feeling. Afterward, he took all the contents out of the coat pockets and scattered them on the table. Even though he was homeless, Martin made sure to take extreme care of his birth certificate and social security card. He didn’t have a photo identification card and hoped he would be able to cash in his ticket with them. Tomorrow he was about to be twenty thousand dollars richer.

That night Martin couldn’t sleep because he was too anxious for the morning to come so he could get to the lottery office to collect his winnings. Once he finally fell to sleep, he had that same dream he had the night before. When he awoke the next morning, he knew that dream was a sign that all would be well going forward. He showered again, dressed, and headed out of the room, leaving his shopping cart behind.

He had to take the bus and the train to get downtown. He took notice of the women eyeing him flirtatiously and it made him blush. He was so used to them staring at him in disgust that he wasn’t sure how to respond so he gave them a nod and a smile.

Martin whistled all the way to the lottery office. Luckily, they accepted his birth certificate and social security card as proof of identity and after federal and state taxes were taken out, he walked out with a check for fourteen thousand and fifty dollars. He went to a nearby bank to deposit his check. After going back and forth with an associate until a manager intervened, Martin was able to open an account and pocket five hundred dollars.

From that day forward Martin began to live the dream he dreamt. He obtained his driver’s license, found a one-bedroom apartment for a decent price, and paid cash for a used car that he fixed up. He pondered on whether he wanted to get a job working for someone or if he wanted to start his own business. That was the toughest decision for him, so he turned to the little black book to seek guidance.

One year later after that wonderful day, Martin and the man who had given him the book, were properly introduced at the grand opening of the Guiding Light Transitional House for Veterans. Martin followed the guidance in the book and with his newfound relationship with Theodore Sterling, he was led to use his winnings to purchase a foreclosed home, fix it up and use the home as a place to help military veterans come to get assistance with joining the civilian life after being discharged or retiring from the military. Being a veteran who had gone through what the men and women who found their way to Guiding Light were going through; Martin was able to incorporate the little black book in its program to help those in need on their new journey.