A group of three attractive and well put together women approached next.  At about six yards away their chatter subsided and Henry felt them sizing him up.  As they passed him by all three woman looked straight ahead with flexed jaws and slightly pursed lips.

Henry chuckled to himself and then looked up into the sky.  He could see three stars.

“Got any change?” a gruff, off-balance voice asked ahead.  Henry looked for the source of the question.  The two men passing who were asked didn’t.  They wore suits and pea coats and shiny shoes and newsboy caps.  They were both looking down at their phones and Henry moved over as to not disturb their business.

“Sorry,” one muttered as they passed.

“That’s okay!” responded Henry.  He then made his way over to the source of the question, a middle-aged Native-American man. He checked his pockets on the way.  “What’s up, man?”

“Got any change?”

The man sat with his back up against the front of the closed bargain clothing store.  His legs lay out straight in front of him.  He wore one very worn brown leather boot on his right foot, the laces untied and frayed.  He held the other boot in his lap and his left foot lay bare without a sock.  It was beyond swollen and much too large to fit in any type of shoe.  Henry frowned and felt compassion and love for the injured man.

“Yeah,” Henry replied as he continued to dig in his pockets, “but I’m not sure how much… What happened to your foot?”

“I kicked the fuckin’ wall.”

“You should go to the hospital.”

“I did!  They fuckin’…” his words turned to grumbling.  Henry looked into the man’s eyes.  They were not focusing.  His jaw was loosely rocking on its hinges.

“Here you go, man,” said Henry as he dropped a couple dollars of change into the man’s empty coffee cup.  He continued on until being stopped by a solid red hand at an intersection where he joined a group of several others waiting to cross the street.  They were all on their phones.

Henry pulled out his phone hoping to find that some of his calls had been returned.  Nothing.

Jacob