The word from the street
It’s Tony’s brand new bench, sitting proud in front of Timothy’s Coffee atn the south-east corner of Roncesvalles and Grenadier. Generously paid for by contributions by people like you and installed by the city. While the plaque isn’t installed yet, a team of sympathetic hardworking — if opinionated — folk who knew and cared about Tony has settled on the wording:
TONY CLEMENS
1949-2011
HOMELESS NO MORE
homelessmanspeaks.com
PHILIP
“Did you hear about the wind warning for Toronto? It’s sure picking up around here.”
TONY
“When that wind starts up, I’m target number one on its list, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I’ve got nowhere to hide.”
TONY
“I slept in one smelly empty trailer last night, believe it or not.”
PHILIP
“No offense but it’s not too hard to believe about a homeless guy. Sorry if that was a mean thing to say; I didn’t mean it that way.”
TONY
“Well it was a bit mean but I guess I gotta admit it’s true. But I’ll tell you one thing: It’s no fun sleeping rough when you’ve gotten to my age. At least it’s not winter or anything. You know, I’ve been mostly sleeping at least somewhere that wouldn’t get me arrested if anyone knew where I was, if you know my meaning.”
TONY
“Did you hear about the fire last night?”
PHILIP
“No. Where was this?”
TONY
“Just up the street there on Howard Park, just this side of Roncesvalles. The big one, the new one. You know the building.”
Later the same day …
PHILIP
“That fire you told me about, the one that’s supposed to have happened yesterday, the one you told me about.”
TONY
“Yeah the one we were going to write up on the blog.”
PHILIP
“I googled for a news story about that fire but I couldn’t find anything anywhere.”
TONY
“Sometimes I think that it should say in the Bible that not everything is on the Internet, if you know what I mean.”
Homeless Man Speaks 