The Possum,The Beggar and The Stranger ?

My hobo-like trek into town this morning riddled me with mixed emotions.In the woods,
just behind the communter train platform,a lone possum was busy foraging amongst the thorny thickets, soft moss and the early spring shrubbery.The white triangular face with the whiskered snout and long ratty tail creeped me out!But there was no conversation here.The train arrived.I bid farewell to the possum and boarded the train.At the Market East Gallery, the perennial four foot tall,beggar gnome with his balding head,bushy eyebrows and foot-long white beard was still working the crowd for change before the security guard could run him off.Fifteen feet away from the beggar gnome was a ballardeer,strumming his guitar and playing a harmonica.He had a donation box on the floor.Somehow his presence and beggar's box was more acceptable than beggar gnome.As he sang and played his music,beggar gnome quietly extended his hand as hundreds of commuters passed by. After my morning coffee,I left my table,walked pass beggar gnome and the balladeer and headed towards the newsstand.I bought my newspaper, came back pass the balladeer and was heading towards the escalator when I spotted beggar gnome taking a thick wad of
greenbacks out of his beggar's pocket.As he wrapped a rubberband around the wad of
greenbacks, his eyes caught mine.No words were exchanged as I passed by him and stepped on the escalator.Yet, a lot was said in that encounter.I left the Gallery at street level and one-half block down, a tall lanky stranger with coarse features
approached me and said, " 96 cents would help me get a micky D's coffee to get started for the day". I reached into my pocket and peeled off a dollar bill and as I was handing it to him he said," I didn't know your church closed." He gave the name of my previous church, then called my given name and added,"The church was boarded up;closed for almost 20 years". How did the 'stranger' know the name of my previous church and my first name? I looked at him and asked his name.He said," John.I used to live at 19th and Persimmon Street..." My mind travelled back neary 25 years and I recalled a young 'John' who used to be strung out on drugs despite neighbor's attempts to help him. Quickly, "John" was walking away towards mickey D's and yelling my first name to thank me! He couldn't modulate his voice and to other strangers walking by he appeared as simply a loud, incoherently rambling street person.To me, he was a former young friend and hommie that I and many other old friends had tried to help.A lot was said in that conversation with,'the stranger'.