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“Can I buy you a coffee?” I ask, wanting to start small.
“Oh, that would be awfully kind of you, sir,” he says, looking over at me with his big, brown eyes. “I’m going through a bit of a rough patch.” His lip starts to quiver and his eyes once again fall to the pavement before him.
“Well, you’re luck is about to change,” I reply, pausing long enough to regain his attention. “I just won a bunch of money and I would like to share some of it with you.”
“With me?” he gasps, looking around as if to see if there was a hidden camera lurking somewhere in the shadows. “Why would you share it with me?” He stares at me with a bewildered look.
“Because, I believe that if I share my good fortune with you, then maybe more will come my way later on,” I reply, pausing once again to let my words sink in.
“You know, I do believe that happens,” he says, nodding his head and giving me a faint smile.
“I want you to take this,” I tell him, giving him a stack of twenty-seven one hundred dollar bills folded in half. “After your luck changes, I want you to help out someone else who’s down on their luck. Okay?”
“I… I… Sure!” he gasps, glancing through the stack seeing Ben Franklin on each and every one of them. “I can’t believe this. Who are you?”
“I’m Trey Addison and you are?” I ask, holding out my hand to shake his.
“Marvin Lewis,” he says, looking down at my dress shoes. “I shined shoes like yours for over forty years, but hardly no one shines their shoes anymore,” he explains with tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.
“You’re right, most people don’t even wear dress shoes anymore,” I add, glancing at the battered old leather shoes he is wearing. “Where did you work?”
“Right over there,” he points back toward the bank. “I used to be busy all day long. It’s the only thing I knew. I started helping my old man when I was just a kid.”
Mandy emerges from the bank and comes walking down the sidewalk toward us. “My girlfriend has something for you too,” I inform him as Mandy stops on the other side of him. “This is Marvin. He used to shine shoes right over there, next to the bank. He worked there for over forty years.”
“People don’t shine their shoes anymore,” Mandy replies with a look of understanding. “I want you to take this and get yourself something nice,” she adds, handing him another wad of hundred dollar bills.
“I’m starting to wonder if I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he says with a laugh, looking around as if he is still wondering whether or not he was being recorded. “I’m going to help my buddy Max,” he tells me with a spark in his eyes. “He’s been on a bad stretch too.”
“There are lots of places for you guys to get help,” Mandy tells him, rubbing her hand along the back of his humped over shoulders.
“I know,” he replies puckering up his face. “It’s just hard to look people in the eye when you are coming around with your hand out every day. I only go when I’m really desperate.”
“You should go whenever you are cold or hungry,” I tell him sternly. “You can’t help the fact that times changed on you. Needing a little help doesn’t make you a bad person. Also, it’s not too late for you to learn how to do something new.”
“I suppose you’re right,” he says with resignation, obviously not convinced that there is hope for a better future. “I just can’t believe all of this,” he adds, looking down at the pile of cash sitting on his lap. Where am I going to keep it?” He glances over at the shopping cart that serves as his home on wheels.
“I’ll tell you what,” Mandy says, thinking on her feet. “You take three hundred, get yourself cleaned up and buy some new clothes. I’ll hang onto the rest of it and meet you right here tomorrow at noon and we’ll go inside and get you a safe deposit box to keep your money in.”
The old man looks at her, then looks down at the pile of money and then up at her again, trying to figure out whether or not he can trust her. “I guess, that will work,” he finally says. “After all, it was your money to start with. I better keep five hundred though. I need a new pair of shoes.”
“Sounds good,” Mandy counts out five bills and puts the rest into the envelope she had brought from the bank. “I will seal this and bring it back to you tomorrow. We’ll meet you right here at noon,” she reiterates.
