PHILIP
“I see you’ve changed your sign.”
TONY
“I didn’t want the kids to feel they owed me something for just pressing old Elmo’s button.”
Archive for April, 2009
Tony lowers his pricing
April 28, 2009Tea and sympathy
April 19, 2009
TONY
“Got myself another ticket this morning.”
PHILIP
“No.”
TONY
“Yup. Cop comes up to me, gives me a ticket for panhandling near a transit vehicle. You what the transit vehicle is? The streetcar; how am I gonna be on the side walk and not be near a street car. If you can figure that out, you could probably win the Nobel Prize.
“So as soon as the cop comes up to me and starts writing me up a ticket, six people come out of Timothy’s and start giving him hell but he says he’s’just doing my job. So he gives me the ticket and he feels so bad, he comes back and offers to buy me a coffee. So he bought me a tea.”
Music to his ears
April 11, 2009
PHILIP
“I saw a young guy playing guitar just on the next block. Do you know who I mean?”
TONY
“Yup. He’s a great guy. You know, he only made 11 bucks the other day. You know what, even though he only made 11 bucks, he came over and dropped some change in my hat.”
You’ll never believe what he said. He said that he’s always reading my blog, and after he got to know me through the blog, he said he felt comfortable enough on the street that he could come out and play his guitar. He even said he admired me, which I haven’t heard in a while.”
I do recall
April 9, 2009
PHILIP
“Do you remember when that Chevy over there was a totally modern car model?”
TONY
“I’ll tell you, those were the days, my friend.”
Another call
April 6, 2009
TONY (leaving a voice message for Philip)
“Phil, if you’re around, how about coming down to Timothy’s and buying an old man a coffee …”
The call
April 2, 2009
Hello readers,
I had a odd yet notably common experience on Tuesday evening. Tony left me a message from a pay phone at about 8pm. He said that he would call back later. He didn’t. Maybe he couldn’t.
So I’ll wait for another phone call — or I’ll see him at his spot at who-knows-when-he’ll-be-there.
And then I’ll know what he wanted to tell me.
Philip
A nut to chew on
April 1, 2009
TONY
“There he is, that’s the guy who snitched me to the cops. Remember?”
I think he might be jealous of me but how could anyone be jealous of a guy like me? There’s a nut for you.””
Homeless Man Speaks 