I walked to Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant for breakfast for Doug and me. It's 0.6 miles away, on Third Street. The temperature was 45 degrees, the sky was overcast but didn't feel like rain, and I wore my lilac colored hoodie. I passed by a beggar who was sitting outside of Fred Meyer, where the can redemption machines used to be. I wondered how long he would stay there before a manager or a PIC sent him away. His sign claimed that he was a vet, and he wore a U.S. Army shirt. Directly across the road from the store is the Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, and I wondered if they had contacted him yet or if he were a poser.
At Carl's, the sausage, egg, cheese sandwich was two for three dollars and fifty cents. I got two and my bacon, egg, cheese biscuit, and headed back, stopping long enough to hand him the warm sandwich. There were a couple of cigarettes on the ground next to him, and an apple, hidden from casual view by his backpack. The cigarettes would be reason enough for a few people I know to not give him the sandwich: "If he can smoke, he can take care of himself." I don't argue with the people in my head; what would be the use? He looked up at me, simply thanked me as he took it, and I was on my way.
So there was my half-hour walk.
In the evening, I walked over to the Dollar Tree and bought Halloween greeting cards. I walk faster, surer, and am not breathless when I get home.
photo of breakfast sandwich from a Carl's Jr. web-site:
At Carl's, the sausage, egg, cheese sandwich was two for three dollars and fifty cents. I got two and my bacon, egg, cheese biscuit, and headed back, stopping long enough to hand him the warm sandwich. There were a couple of cigarettes on the ground next to him, and an apple, hidden from casual view by his backpack. The cigarettes would be reason enough for a few people I know to not give him the sandwich: "If he can smoke, he can take care of himself." I don't argue with the people in my head; what would be the use? He looked up at me, simply thanked me as he took it, and I was on my way.
So there was my half-hour walk.
In the evening, I walked over to the Dollar Tree and bought Halloween greeting cards. I walk faster, surer, and am not breathless when I get home.
photo of breakfast sandwich from a Carl's Jr. web-site:

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