The Beggar

It was already a quarter past eleven and all he had was six dollars, maybe seven. The clang he hears everytime someone drops a coin in his tray is the sweetest music in his ears. He is still a log way away from the 1000 he needed to offset the week’s medical bills and it’s already Thursday. He had just 2 days more before things turn from bad to worse. His tummy rumbled again, he tried to but he can’t remember his last meal.

He must have been lost in thoughts, or drifted off to sleep. These days he can’t tell the difference between when he was sleep-dreaming or day-dreaming. Another clang in his tray woke him up, he looked down at the tray, not a single dollar note in site, all coins. He thought he saw a few dollar notes earlier, but then again he’s been seeing a lot of things lately. Maybe I’m losing my mind he thought to himself. But who wouldn’t? He’s been through so much in the past one year, from living in the most admirable part of town to begging for a measly thousand dollar, out in the cold and (his stomach rumbled again) hungry as hell. He can’t pinpoint a particular thing that led him here.

It was a culmination of a lot of bad choices, and some bad luck as well. Who would have thought that the first lady… another clang, another rumble of his stomach; and he thought he heard his name. Like someone calling you from far away. He stood up, looked in the direction he thought the sound came from, trained his ear towards the direction, but nothing. He was about to dismiss it as one of the games his mind play with him these days; sitting down, he heard it again.

This time his military training kicked in. This is no mere mind game, someone is actually calling him by his name. A name only known by very few people who knew him from way back when he was still a soldier of fortune. He quickly gathered his few coins, put them away in his pocket and stood up, that singular act was the best decision he’s made in over a year, as those coins, 6 and 7 pence in all would save his life twice, twice within the next 24 hours.