Homeless Man

Have you ever lived in a city and had to walk past the same ole bench every day to get where you are going? Have you ever noticed that the bench never changes, but everything else around it does depending on the day? This bench looks like an ordinary bench, and it is. What goes on around it is different each and every day. Even the homeless man that sits out here in the morning changes up what he says and does. He is still there at the same time, sitting on the same bench, but his reactions to the people around him change when things around him change.

I moved to New York City in January, so when I started walking past that bench every morning, I changed the course of events that happen near the bench. I was not one of the constant individuals that would walk past the homeless man on that bench, but in January I became one of them. The homeless man took a few days to notice me and I would watch his reactions to people. I was nervous to go past him because I was not used to homeless people. Especially not seeing one every day right down the street from my apartment building. I asked around and the girls I talked to said not to worry about him. So I didn’t and I walked past him each day my first week in NYC. Nothing happened. I just ignored him. He would ask “Change please, sir.” “Change, please.” “Change, please, miss.” One day I felt really bad for not giving him anything after walking past him every day for a week. So I looked over and said.”I’m sorry, I don’t have anything.” I looked away and started to walk away. I didn’t expect him to say, “It’s okay,” look me up and down, “good look’n.” At first, I found it a little uncomfortable, but funnier than anything. He stopped asking for change and was more enthralled by someone who stopped to say sorry and apparently he thinks is “good look’n”.

A few more weeks went by of him stopping to call me good look’n. It was starting to get a little boring and wasn’t that funny anymore. Right when I thought that, the next morning on my way to the college he was sitting on the same bench. It was a little warmer out, but not that much warmer. Just enough to be in a better mood and not have to wear a heavy coat, just a light coat. He starts to say his normal “Change please, miss.” but this day, he got as far as the middle of, please. He lost focus on everyone else around him and looked me up and down then back up again and says in the most surprised voice, “You’re Good Look’n.” I called my mom after that cracking up laughing. It was like he forgot who I was and noticed that I was, I guess “good look’n” that day, and said it with such surprise. I find it so funny, because of the way he says it, but also because there are so many pretty girls in this city. He shouldn’t be surprised to see me.

I wanted to see if I could get him not to notice me, so I tried wearing a lot of different outfits that covered me completely and weren’t cute at all. Wearing a mask, coat, boots, and winter hat did not work. I really have no idea how he thought I was good look’n in that outfit because I was barely visible. Wearing a baggy FRIENDS hoodie and ignoring him did not do any good at all. Now I don’t even wear my FRIENDS hoodie if I plan to walk past him. Do you want to know why? When I wore it for the first time, I walked past him and he goes, “FRIENDS huh? I wanna be your friend.” Okay, now the way he said it that time was still beyond hilarious but had a tone that was kind of disturbing. I decided to not wear that hoodie when I walked past him. That was really sad too because I love that hoodie and he restricted my use of it. I went ahead and wore another hoodie one day and put the hood over my head. Guess what? He did not notice me! I had won the game! I finally found something to wear that would make him not notice me! It was amazing!

Recently I had a date and it was really nice out so I wore this cute outfit. Um.. yeah. It was a little too cute for the homeless man to see me in. His reaction had me laughing so hard that I had to get away from him so he didn’t see me laughing at his words. He sees me and says at the top of his lungs, “You’re gonna knock ‘em dead girl!” The force and surprise behind his voice was so hilarious! He was having a hard time catching his breath and I literally thought I may have given the poor homeless man a heart attack. Luckily, I saw him out there on the bench the next day, but it was just so funny.

As you can see. The bench never changed. It is still the same bench, but the people changed around it. The weather had a factor in how the people around the bench would react. Yesterday it was really warm out so there were a lot more people. I actually saw someone giving the homeless man some change. It was really nice to see because I hadn’t seen anyone do that yet. The nicer the weather, the more chances he has at getting something because there are more people out. The bench will always be there, but the homeless man will always change and definitely give me a good morning laugh.