The Donor

I'm waiting for the bus, in front of the 7-Eleven/Subway conglomerate. They're paired throughout West LA and open 24 hours.

Image courtesy of Google Earth.

Semi occupying the other bench are two homeless, a sloppy old white guy in a wheelchair and a fat crazy haired (think Wife of Bath) white woman. Not sure if they're a couple.

She tells me, "You dropped your sandwich".

I haven't but I look down and there is a perfectly wrapped Subway sandwich on the ground by my bench.

I tell her, "It's not mine, you should go for it". She says she's not hungry. But the guy in the wheelchair is interested in it, so she brings it to him. It turns out it really is a perfectly good sandwich.

The bus has not yet arrived and another seemingly homeless man ambles up. He's black, 60ish, grey bearded, with beaten down clothes. He's apparently not homeless, as he walks over to the man in the wheelchair, holding out a dollar. Then, just shy of putting it in the man's hand, he instead drops it in the street.

I tell the wheelchair dude, "Hang on, I'll see if I can get it". The dollar has already started to blow away. I succeed and put it in his hand.

Indicating the original donor, who is still there waiting for the bus, the crippled, homeless, possibly insane, old man says, "That was pretty fucked up". I agree with him and sit back at my bench.

The donor, who has watched our transaction, says, "Did you see the sandwich I dropped?"