Planet Brenda

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

AND ON THE OTHER EXTREME......

I finally gave in and stopped at the liquor store today....I want some eggnog! So I bought a small bottle of whiskey so I could mix up a few egg nogs this coming Saturday night. I'm always real uncomfortable at the liquor store....I'm not much of a drinker at all and I was raised Southern Baptist....I always feel like I'm doing something WRONG just to be in a liquor store. So you can just imagine how high I jumped as I quiltily slunk out of there with my package and I heard someone call "Brenda!"

I look over and there is this homeless guy standing there smiling at me. He's all nastified with a grungy trenchcoat and a big ol' bushy-ass growth on his chin. I was wary as I could be, but he DID say my name. I'm like "Do I know you?" and he's like "Yeah, its Bobby Badass from school!"

Well you could have just knocked me over with a feather or two. I was like "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-Bobby?" And then.......I didn't know what to say! What have you been up to since school??? didn't quite seem like the appropriate comment under these particular circumstances. So I just said "How are you?" instead. And he grins and says "well I've been better!" Obviously.

We stood there and talked a few minutes and it was way beyond strange. Just small talk, but I was dying inside. I wanted to invite him home to take a shower but that didn't seem like a proper thing to do, either. I did ask him if he was without a home and he said yeah, that's just how things had been working out for him, that he had been having drug and alcohol problems a lot, which I thought was admirable of him to come out and admit. Finally I was getting overcome....as I tend to do....so I started making excuses to get out of there. I gave him as much money as I could stand to give him. He didn't ask but he kept staring, so I gave him my whiskey bottle too. That probably wasn't the right thing to do but it felt right, so I did it.

Somehow the thought of a few leisurely egg nogs around the kerosene heater doesn't seem very appealing anymore, anyway.

I've been involved in two situations illustrating extremes of home situations in the past four days....I feel like the Creator is trying to convey something deep and meaningful here. I might not have it great in life....yet I have it so good! Message received.

I'm also trying to figure a way to help out. Socks? Gloves? A nice backpack? Any suggestions?

Posted by brendalove@gmail.com @ 8:56 AM |