CarrollBlog

Very early in the morning a woman is standing in front of a store on the big shopping street, waiting. I know who she is and what she's waiting for but I am too far away to help. A bum slouches toward her with his head down. She goes over to him and speaks. He looks up while she asks him to help. She is very short and every day must unlock the door to her store. The problem is the door has two locks-- one at the very top, one at the bottom. She is too small to reach the one at the top and must always ask a passerby to take the key and unlock it for her. She's asked me several times and is always very pleasant about it. Moving towards them now I watch the bum turn the key up top and then hand it back to the woman. She smiles and thanks him profusely. He walks away towards me smiling and moving much differently than minutes before-- with purpose now, a man who's asked to do things, a man who deserves thanks.