Old Man Sat, Stared Until A Child Happened To Pass
October 11, 1956

It was five o'clock in the afternoon, that was part of the reason.

The elegant lady in the fur cape, the four businessmen and the two young housewives stood at the Tryon St. bus stop with the vacant look of people thinking about their own affairs, tired of working, tired of shopping and eager to get home.

So they didn't notice the old guy in the alley.

He wasn't much to notice. He sprawled against a brick wall and raised his stubble-covered face to the people who passed by and lifted a shaking arm to offer them a pencil.

Some stared at him curiously. Nobody stopped.

The people waiting for the bus didn't even look his way. The lady in fur stepped out to the curb impatiently and looked up the street to see if the bus was coming.

One of the four businessmen leaned against a plate glass window, took a newspaper from under his arm and turned to the sports page.

One of the housewives glanced uncomfortably at the old man in the alley, and looked away. They all waited.

That was when the little girl walked up. She was a few steps ahead of her mother, whose arms were full of packages. The little girl walked straight up to the old man in the alley and looked at him. He looked back. The little girl's mother took her place with the others, shifted the packages in her arms and began waiting for the bus.

"Come here, Annie," she said.

The little girl walked over.

"He's selling pencils," her mother said.

The man with the newspaper stared over at the little girl.

The little girl walked back over to the alley and peered down at the man.

She didn't say anything and neither did he.

She turned back to her mother and tugged at her arm.

"I want a pencil," she said.

Her mother smiled, took her pocketbook from her arm and reached into it awkwardly, without putting down the bulky packages. She gave the little girl a nickel.

The girl took it over to the ally and put it in the man's hat. She looked at him once more, then walked quietly back to her mother's side.

"God bless you," the old man mumbled. She didn't hear him.

The bus arrived and its doors opened.

Everybody got on.

But before they did, two of the businessmen and the lady with the furs dropped coins in the old guy's hat.

A little child had led them.

Charles Kuralt's People (Kenilworth Media, copyright 2002)
ISBN 0-9679096-1-9 | Hard cover | 384 pages with photos | $25.95

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