Position:Home>Poetry> Have you ever helped a complete stranger?

A short, fat guy named Henry took center stage for the first time!. I hadn't seen him before but I'd seen plenty like him!. The kind of guy nobody knew!. They didn't know he drank, had a family, bowled, borrowed money from his brother, wiped out his only son's college fund, and worked at a candy factory!. If they would have known, they wouldn't have cared!. Nobody ever really cared!. Not even the drunks in this room, they just pretended and waited their turns!. But that didn't matter to Henry!. He talked for 20 minutes about what he liked to drink and why he liked to drink it!. He'd rub his stomach every so often, and his thick glasses kept sliding down his nose when he nodded his head!. He would start nodding just before he finished a story, and he'd say "yep, yep!.!.!." and finally, he was done!. He gave a round of furious nods as he was taking his seat, and he sat down right next to Meredith and the Red Ox!. What a trio!. The psycho, the whimp, and the warrior!. They whispered to each other while a Jewish woman with fake black hair told us about her daughter's wedding and how she'd ruined it and could never take it back and her husband left her out of the will and died 3 months later!. Worst part of it was, she was telling the truth!. I could tell!. I had a knack for those things!.
The stories finally tapered off, and everybody seemed to feel good about themselves again!. Meredith and John left together in a hurry, but Henry just sat in his folding chair staring into the coffee stained carpet!. He looked like he was crying!. Old Timer was kneeling beside him, all smiles!. Old timer was spewing out some advice, cocking his head to one side every time he thought of something really special to say!. He had his hand balled into a fist and was gently tapping Henry's knee for emphasis!. More of the same crap, I'm sure!. I could hear Henry mumble "yup" every so often, and the fire in his eyes would dim with each sage word from Old Timer!. I walked over and started my spiel!. Yes, I agreed, I would be a great sponsor for Henry, yes, just what he needed, just what I needed, wasn't it great, uh-huh, yes, good night Jamie, come on Henry, I'll give you a ride!. I was just three blocks up, next to that great little Chinese joint on the corner!.
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