He was kind of scary. He sat there on the grass with his cardboard sign, his adorable dog and tattoos running up and down both arms and even on his neck. His sign proclaimed him to be, “stuck and hungry” and to please help. I pulled the van over and in my rearview mirror contemplated this man, tattoos and all. He was youngish maybe 40. He wore one of those bandanas tied over his head, biker/pirate style. Anyone could see he was dirty and had a scraggly beard. But if you looked closer, you could see that he had neatly tucked in his black T-shirt, and his things were in a small, tidy bundle. He must have been there long; his face was wet with perspiration. Nobody was stopping for him. It was so hot out. I could see in the man’s very blue eyes how defected and tired and worn-out he felt. I reached out in my purse and extracted a $10 bill. My 12- year old son, Nick , knew right away what I was doing. “Can I take it to him ‘Mom?” ” Be careful, honey,” I warned and handed him the money. I watched in the mirror as he rushed over to the man , and with a shy smile handed him the money. I saw the man startled , stand and take the money, putting it into his pocket. When nick got back into the car, he looked at me with sad, pleading eyes. ” Mom, his dog is feeling really hot and the man is really nice.” I knew I had to do more. ” Go back and tell him to stay there, that we will be back in 15 minutes,” I told Nick. We then ran to the nearest store and bought a bag of dog’s food, some doggie snacks, two bottles of water, a water dish and some snacks for the man. We rushed back to the spot where we and left him and there he was, waiting. With hands shaking, I grabbed our bags and climbed out of the car, all four of my children carrying gifts. I looked into his eyes and saw tears. “Mam ,I don’t even know what to say.” He then put both hands on his bandana-clad head and just started to cry. This man , this “scary” man, was so gentle, so humble , so sweet. Then I noticed the tattoos on his neck. It said, “Mama tried.” As we all piled into the van and knees, arms around his dog, kissing his nose and smiling. Now my eyes were filling up.
