The Unexpected

I was merrily on my way to work yesterday when I turned the last corner only to encounter close to the last thing I expected. A man lying on the sidewalk in front of this abandoned building. All curled up like a little kid with his knees bent and his hands tucked under his cheek.

My first thought was that he was dead. I mean, who sleeps on the sidewalk? Especially when it had been raining less than an hour earlier. So I parked and looked around. No way was I investigating alone. Fortunately a pair of my coworkers were a little further up the street.

I went over to where they were and asked if they’d noticed the man. They thought the lump was a trash bag and were quite surprised to discover it wasn’t. Neither of them really wanted to go poke at him either and we were about to call the authorities when a truck came around the same corner I had.

They stopped and one of the men got out. We heard him yelling, asking the man if her were okay. No response. Another individual joined them and had the nerve to touch the man. He gave him a shake and yay, the man stirred.

After a moment he stood up and looked around, thoroughly confused. The side of him that had been against the pavement was wet so he’d been there for a while. I was amazed. I don’t know about you but if I’d been lying in the rain on hard concrete I wouldn’t have been able to just hop up and start walking. Well, walking isn’t quite the word for it. Perhaps weaving or staggering better suit his motion. My guess is he had a few too many. Or many too many. He proceeded down the street, muttering to himself and, after two blocks, disappeared around the corner.

The things you see…

Happy weekend all!