The word from the street
PHILIP
How come your Elmo doll is so important to you? I think he’s almost the only thing you own except your clothes, no offense.
TONY
“Well seeing kids smile makes me smile and Elmo makes the kids smile. So it all works out.”
PHILIP
“So do you actually identify with Elmo in any way?”
TONY
“Phil, I think only someone who had a dad and granddad who were shrinks could ask me that question.”
(The photo is from our post of Nov. 1 2010.)
PHILIP
“I’ve never asked you about your dad; what did he do for a living?”
TONY
“Oh he was a highway mechanic, fixing rigs when they broke down mostly.”
PHILIP
“That’s got to be one lonely job.”
TONY
“And lonely.”
PHILIP
“Dangerous, I bet.”
TONY
“Hot in the summer.”
PHILIP
“Weren’t you trained as a car mechanic?”
TONY
“Yeah, but I was never as good as my dad.”
PHILIP
“We haven’t told a story about when you were a kid for a long time. Can you remember something that happened when you were — I don’t know — ten years old?”
TONY
“Well, I remember looking for my Mom in Riverdale Park. That would have been 1959, I think. She was threatening that she would was going to kill herself after a big argument with my Dad. She even took a pairing knife with her.”
PHILIP
“What happened?”
TONY
“Oh, she came home.”
Homeless Man Speaks 