The Soup Guy
The guy serving soup out of a truck.
As if struggling through homelessness was not bad enough, Lisa being hungry, and not being able to afford to get anything to eat had Lisa feeling so sad, and helpless. See, Lisa knew that she could not just go out and get a job because being homeless Lisa did not have a mailing address, she did not have any forms of identification, and she had just one outfit that she wore every day. She truly had nothing. Lisa ran through every option she could think of to try and produce a way to get something to eat, and nothing she tried to do ever panned out, she really was down and out, and hopeless. Lisa even tried panhandling, but the managers of the business’s she would be sitting in front of kept chasing her away, and when she thought she had run out of things to try she vowed to herself that she was not going to give up not just yet. There had to be something she could do to get something to eat she just did not know what. Lisa was one of those homeless people that had her favorite spot to sit, and her favorite place just so happened to be on the park bench right outside of the entrance door of the local supermarket. Lisa is always sitting on the bench from the time the supermarket opened until the time that it closed then she would be in the corner of the building right next to the pop machine curled up with the tattered wool blanket that she carried with her everywhere settled in and asleep for the night. When the morning came Lisa would be right there in her usual spot sitting on the park bench outside of the entrance door, and she would sit there greeting every person as they walked in and out of the store. This did not seem to bother the patrons of the store as no one ever said anything or had her chased away, rather the patrons seemed to like her there to greet them as they came and went they would smile and greet Lisa back, and if there was ever a day that Lisa was not there to greet them some of them would ask about her. Though it was a rare occasion that Lisa would not be there to greet the patrons there came a day that Lisa happened to not be there. Lisa was not there for good reason. God had finally answered her prayers. One warm, sunny summer afternoon as Lisa was sitting on the park bench she noticed a food like looking truck that had pulled in close to the entrance driveway of the supermarket, and she watched as a single, tall stature guy got out of his truck and began setting up with a sign that read " free soup wagon, free hot soup, hot dog, juice or water." Lisa thought to herself her prayers are answered but she asked herself " is this real or am I seeing things?" She did not question it for long before she decided to walk over and see it up close. As she walked up Lisa is welcome in by a strong, friendly, and welcoming voice that said " are you hungry? Go ahead and take a look at the menu and, let me know which dinner you would like." Lisa takes five minutes to study the menu, and everything looked so good she could not decide between the two meals. She slowly approaches the wagon window and nervously looks up and says " I would like meal #2 please. The man then says " would you like crackers or bread with your meal? Lisa chose bread. Then the man says you also get a hot dog with your meal and Lisa looks up and smiles. Then the man says, " do you want water or juice?" Lisa chose the juice and as the man hands Lisa her meal he makes one more request and says to Lisa " just give thanks to the Lord." Lisa softly replies, " yes sir." and she walks away back to her spot on the park bench, she folds her hands together, bows her head, and to herself she says a little prayer thanking God for her meal. Now Lisa's battle with hunger was over. Now every Tuesday and Thursday she had a blessing in the form of a man in a soup wagon that she could always count on to feed her in her greatest time of need. Lisa was so grateful for the man in the soup wagon that she knew that no matter what she was facing she at least had the man in the soup wagon to help her through it even if it was only two days a week, she was profoundly grateful for those two days. When Lisa thought all was hopeless there was a man there to help her see that not all hope is gone, and she had the strength to continue. Thanks to the man in the soup wagon.
About the Creator
Amy McGuffey
For me, writing has become an effective way for me to write about the things that have had a negative impact on my life, and move on from them. Also, writing allows me to write about the good things, and express my imagination.
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A Man With Many Faces
Truth is, People are not that much different from one another. Men say women are too complicated and impossible to try and figure out, and women say the same about men, but which one is right? In this case, the women would be right to say that about men. Enter Benny. Benny was the typical male, somehow Benny had it in his head that he was God's great gift to women, and that all women wanted him, but he sure did not seem to have a long line of women just knocking down his door to get to him, there were no women fighting over who would be with him next, and if Benny would have had a black book with the names of all the women wanting and waiting to be with him that little black book would be empty. That was until Benny met a girl named Glenda. Glenda was an attractive, young girl in her early 40's, and she was single. Glenda really had a good head on her shoulders, she really had it all together, and she could have had her pick of any man she wanted. It did not take long for Benny and Glenda to bump into each other one afternoon while shopping in the local supermarket. Glenda was thumping the melons looking for the ripest one and Benny was aimlessly lurking around not really looking for anything specific, but he had noticed Glenda from a couple of aisles over and just had to make his presence known to her. As Glenda, distracted and thumping all the melons Benny saw that as his perfect opportunity to swoop in and take her by surprise, and while Glenda had her back turned Benny sneaked up behind her, slightly cleared his throat, and lightly tapped her on her shoulder. It startled Glenda causing her to all but jump out of her skin and causing her to gasp as it did take her by surprise. As Glenda was attempting to catch her breath, she swiftly turned around to see Benny standing there with a devilishly cute grin on his face, and a boyish kind of charm to him, and Glenda saw stars in her eyes. Glenda had been swept off her feet and was head over heels for Benny. It was love at first sight for Glenda. For Benny, it was just another round in his games. What Glenda did not know but would soon find out is that under this fake boyish charm lied a master manipulator, a vindictive narcissist, a habitual liar, a cheater, a user, and a womanizer who in reality only cares about someone other than himself when that other person has something he wants, or is giving him what he wants, or is benefiting him. About two weeks into this whirlwind romance Glenda, unaware of who he really was, Glenda had been so involved in pleasing Benny that she had moved Benny into her home. Still, everything was working well for them, or was it? Glenda was now all about Benny, catering to his every whim, waiting on him hand and food, suppling his every need, providing everything for him, and supporting him financially, and Benny did not seem to mind one bit. He was living the good life and having everything done for him just like he wanted from the start. That is how Benny had always been with all the girls prior, and he saw no reason for him to change anytime soon. So, he kept soaking it up to the full extent. About six months in and everything about Glenda began to change. Her priorities had gone from taking care of herself to taking care of Benny, and it was starting to take its toll. She began calling into work several times a week, her bills that she normally stayed on top of and had paid on time had now begun falling behind, and she was getting disconnect letters from the electric company, cable and internet providers, her cellphone carrier, and her landlord had served her with an eviction notice giving her thirty days to vacate her house, and if all of that was not bad enough Glenda had Benny just living it up and not helping out with anything, and not even offering her any kind of assistance, and Glenda was about to reach her boiling point, she had just about enough of providing everything and constantly giving, and giving while Benny was constantly taking, and taking, and not lifting a finger to help her. She was losing everything she had worked her whole life to get, she was about to be out on her butt homeless, and living out of her car, and she had Benny to blame for it all, or did she? By this time Glenda had finally had enough. She swallowed her pride and she asked Benny for help getting her back on track, she made the comment that he needed to get off the couch and help around the home, and that is when all the problems began. From that moment on things had drastically changed and nothing would ever be the same. Glenda started to notice behaviors in Benny that she had never seen before. Benny started being more aggressive towards her, and sometimes even violent, Benny started staying out all night doing only God knows what and with who, there were times he would not come home for days at a time, and she started suspecting Benny of cheating on her, and she could hear the ladies whispers about how they had been seeing Benny around town with another girl wrapped around his arms, it was obvious that something was going on because anytime Glenda would try to confront Benny on what she had been hearing Benny would just roll his eyes, sigh, and look at her with a look of disgust, and say " and you believe them." and then he was off and running again, confirming her suspicions. Having had her suspicions confirmed this threw Glenda into a deep long depression, and she started isolating herself away from her friends, and family, she stopped returning any calls or messages, and she just stayed in her room, and in bed for well over a week. On the seventh day of being in bed and depressed Glenda decided it was time that she got out of bed, and stopped feeling sorry for herself it was not going to change anything or bring him back, so enough was enough, and she forced herself out of bed, and into the shower, she got dressed up all cute like, and did her hair and makeup, and just as she decided to leave out the house Glenda got a phone call from a friend of Benny's but he was not calling to speak to Benny. He had heard about the breakup, and he could not have been more delighted about it. Enter Jake. Jake had always had a thing for Glenda ever since Benny had introduced them, but he kept it quiet out of respect for Glenda and Benny's relationship. But now that it had ended between Glenda and Benny Jake saw no reason to keep biting his tongue, so on this call, he asked Glenda if he could take her to lunch, and Glenda quickly accepted his invitation. Hours later Glenda and Jake were sitting in a quiet corner in her favorite bistro and just chatting it up. They really hit it off, so after lunch, Glenda asked Jake if he would like to come to her house and continue this conversation, and Jake did not hesitate to accept. Moments later Glenda and Jake were sitting close to each other on her sofa and continuing their conversation. One thing lead to another and sparks began to fly, and before either one of them knew it and could stop it they were passionately making out and tightly holding onto each other, again one thing lead to another and things carried on in the bedroom, and when all was said and done, and they were just lying in bed Glenda could not help but notice that she did not feel the least bit guilty for what had just happened, as a matter of fact, it felt good, and she was not the least bit sorry for it either, and judging by the smile on Jake's face he was feeling the same way she was. From then on Glenda and Jake began spending more time together, and they were going out every night, three nights a week Jake would stay over at Glenda's house, and other nights Glenda stayed over at Jake's. and it did not seem that the heat they had going was going to stop any time soon, so they both just ran with it. But this was not your everyday, run-of-the-mill relationship, they had to keep things between them on the down-low because Glenda knew that if this romance was to ever get back to Benny this would cause the worst problems ever being that Jake was at one point Benny's longtime friend, and not only would these cause problems for Glenda but it would cause worse problems for Jake, so they decided for the time being to keep things quiet. But the thrill and the rush they got from keeping this a secret only seemed to intensify the more they kept it a secret, the sex only got hotter, and hotter, and the secrecy only drew them in closer making it all that much harder to stay away from each other. So let this be a lesson to all the Benny's in the world, if you do not want your Glenda's to hook up with your friends you might want to consider pulling your head out of your butt, get your stuff together, and learn how to treat a woman. Otherwise, do not be upset when she goes out and finds comfort in the arms and pants of someone you call a friend Karma is real and turnabout is fair play. What goes around comes around. Keep that in mind anytime you want to believe that you are God's great gift to women. You never know when that woman is going to challenge that theory with someone else and make you look like a total jackass as if you had not done that yourself anyway. So, for all the Glenda's out there just know you are worth so much more and you deserve so much better, so stop wasting your time with these game-playing losers and find yourself, someone, real and true. They are out there you just must look harder to find them. So, get your shine on, you deserve to be happy.
By Amy McGuffey2 years ago in Humans
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My life is splashing before my eyes, as I precariously suspend and prepare for the end, the consumption of my Self and identity. I know that gravity will be the victor in this struggle. Like a pendant, slipping from the chain, the tension has caught me in this moment, bestowing one last gift of reflection. I cling desperately, questioning my purpose. Searching for comfort. And I remember…
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