Homeless Birds and People

Well, my birds are now homeless. There were no nestlings, so I sealed the attic vents with a heavy-duty wire mesh and cleared one of their nests--I need to buy plywood to put on attic floor beams to be able to reach the other nest.

The homeless birds reminded me of a ridiculous encounter I had a few years ago with two homeless men. To me it's a funny story. Maybe a better word for it is "weird." I know homelessness is a huge problem with many unfortunate causes. I'm not sharing the story to make fun of the gentleman, just sharing it because it was so strange.

The job I had at the time required really long hours. Some nights I'd get home well after bedtime. Occasionally I forgot to take care of little chores. Halfway to work one morning I realized my car was almost out of gas--right in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods in DC. There was a gas station coming up on the right, so I pulled in to get a few gallons. As I got out of the car, two homeless men approached me for money. I told them to let me take care of the gas first and I'd think about it. Sometimes I'm a soft-touch and sometimes not, depends on the vibe I get from the person.

One homeless man walked over to the pump island and sat down. The other one stayed next to me, yelling at me to give him money. I started the pump and then one of my good/bad habits kicked in. I started talking to the guy. I told him no one was going to give him money for yelling at them, that he should be more like his buddy and give people space. He continued yelling. Our "conversation" went on like that until the pump finished. Then I gave the calm fellow a few dollars. The "yeller" didn't like that and decided to stand in front of my car until I gave him money too. I put my hands behind my head and settled in for little mid-commute nap.

Finally he moved and I pulled forward to get out of the station, but I had to wait for a car in front of me to pull out first. It took forever. As I sat waiting, my friend returned. When I looked over he was kissing my window. He was really going to town! He put a little tongue into it...then a LOT of tongue. Next thing I knew, his one tooth was scraping the window. It was horrible and sad, but it was so ridiculous it was funny. Traffic finally cleared and I waved goodbye!

Later I felt bad for two reasons. First, I could have split the money between the two men--there was no reason to try to make a point to a crazy person. Waste of time. Second, I had not washed my car in a long time--another little chore I'd forgotten while living my job. My car was filthy!!! I looked for that guy every morning when I drove past the station, but I never saw him again. I wanted to stop and give him a little money--and it would have been nice to know if he was okay after his encounter with the window.