Freeman

So I met this man the other day
Freeman
dressed in his suit and hat
on the corner of Commerce and 9th.
You always see people like that, you know?
Nice clothes that have run slightly shabby
and they call to you to see if you can spare some change.
It never really made much sense to me,
the irony, I mean.


I spared him
my fifty cents that i had in my pocket
and bounced.


I made my way to Dave's Dogs across the street.
"2 hots. 1 with chili, 1 yellow relish.
oh, and a coke if you could."

Freeman starts screaming.

Like, flat out belting in the middle of the road.
Cars speeding past, honking, people staring, industrial smells, freakin..
people throwing trash at his feet all day... and he just can't take it anymore and he yells





STOP!! EVERYTHING'S SO F*CKING LOUD!! JUST STOP!




and everything did.








...guess everyone's glances got too loud for him.
He kicked his cup full of money for his "bus to Memphis" and nickels and dimes went rolling every-which-a-way.

He kinda paced around for a bit then just sat against the wall of some store and just watched the world slowly gain back his momentum.

I walked over to him after he'd chilled out and sat down. I kinda awkwardly hit his shoulder with the outside of my hand and said

"thanks."



he looked at me just really baffled.
Any sane person would do the same. and he WAS sane. probably more so than anyone else on Commerce St.
But I didn't really have anything else to say... I mean he had the nerve to stop downtown. He had the competency to pull the power and volume of glances into something everyone could see.



So I just kinda smiled ineptly and walked away.