On The Court

I wake up late, as the clock indicates. I see Andy requesting outside, I presume she didn't want to wake me up. It had been a good night, I slept without stress, more money in my pockets and career possibilities, which is obviously helpful for me. I get out of our usual metro station to go find Andy, who has already a good amount of money in her coffee cup.

"You're lucky, it's not to cold yet." she smiles at me when I come out.

"You paid that with your money?" I ask, ready to get my money out of my pocket.

"It's fine, don't pay me back." she answers as she sees my hand getting in my coat.

"Why not, it's okay." I insist.

"No, thanks." I don't understand what she is doing.

"Andy you never refuse money, what's happening?" I ask, sitting down next to her.

"I feel a little bad." she says.

"Why that?" I'm looking for an answer.

"Because I'm getting off the streets before you." she responds, looking in my eyes weirdly.

"Hey, don't feel bad about it, I'll just get off after you, that's not the end of the world." I try to comfort her.

"That's not it, CT." she tries to start explaining, but stops.

"You can explain it to me, we're friends, we can talk." I put my hand on her shoulder as someone puts a coin in the cup.

"It's just that... I'm scared of losing you if I get off. What if we both have an enormous career and never see each other again?" she explains.

"Oh... I understand. Look, if that can make you feel any better, let's give ourselves a meeting, if we can say that, here, precisely, today in a year. Than even I'd we have careers, we can get along and talk about our lives, exchange our phone numbers, all the stuff normal people do." I convince her.

"Mister? I'm sorry to bother you, but can I ask you the date?" Andy asks to an old man walking.

"Of course, I can even give you a little tip for having the courage of asking. It's February 20th." the man said with a bright light of compassion in the eye.

"Why should we need courage?" I asked politely.

"Oh girl, in my time, being homeless was too hard to talk. You just needed money and couldn't get any. If you had clothes you were lucky." he saluted us before disappearing in the crowd.

"Nice old man." Andy said.

I couldn't get my mind off his thoughts. I still wondered how he did to get off. Andy got past it easily. We walked a little, but we were cold, so we stayed near the metro. Everyday looked the same. People giving, people hating, supportive people, ruining people. But today was different. I felt happy. Andy did too, I guess being together in such a situation was easier. We were sleepy that evening. We ate a little. We could afford healthier things than usual, but we didn't want to ruin ourselves.

"You're not getting past the old man of the morning are you?" Andy guessed.

"I felt something nice and bright in that man, like a compassion that not much people have. He surprised me and gave me hope for the rest." I said, still imagining his gentleness.

"I felt it too. He was like, the cause of our easiness in the streets. without homeless people before us, we wouldn't have survived. Let's live our lives like those people wanted to live theirs." Andy declared.

"Yes, I like that idea." I agreed and we ate in silence. We got back in the metro. Usual night. No bench tonight, but it was not so bad. We found a silent spot. Tomorrow would be another day, but I was really looking forward to see the old man again.