Thursday, November 18, 2010

Homeless

I never liked going through alleys. It was the homeless people that bothered me. If you encounter one on the street, it's no big deal and you can just pretend you didn't hear them begging. If you're in the middle of a crowd, it's easy to be anonymous.

But in an alley, you have to directly pass them. It's just you and him (female homeless people are a bit rarer). I usually stop to give him whatever change I have if it's in an alley, opposed to when on the street I just fleet by, pretending to be caught up in my life. I know I do this and I feel a tiny stab of guilt every time. It's because of this little drip of resentment that I stopped for him today.

I normally avoid alleys, but I was late for work and I save about three minutes shooting across one instead of waiting for lights to change. It's a few blocks, but New York City traffic is too rough.

He was on my left, leaning against a garbage can and the wall of one of the buildings. As I was approaching him, he politely spoke up. "Sir?"

"Oh!" I started, pretending I hadn't noticed him at first, and began reaching into my pockets looking for spare change or a dollar. While I was searching, I stopped at his feet and saw his face. His left eye had no iris. No pupil, either. Just white.

"I don't want your change, mister." His voice almost sounded metallic, about as much so as a cheap beer or the aftertaste of blood.

He had caught me off guard. "Then...uh...what is it you want...?"

"I want...out."

I wondered what he meant as I gazed into his two sparkling green eyes. He looked too intelligent to be homeless. Whatever, I thought. I have a job to get to. Smart people go crazy easily; he's probably on heroine or something.

I walked swiftly away and to the office. Everyone there looked at me weird, like I just grew a beard overnight or something. When I looked at everyone else, they looked like I needed glasses. Just a little blurry. Odd, I have perfect vision. When I went to the bathroom to see if I could figure it out, I looked the same, but...different. It was like my face was half-distorted or something. A bit out of focus. I closed my left eye and I looked fine. I closed my right eye and...have you ever seen yourself naked? I mean, truly naked?

Oh my god...the things I have seen with my left eye.

16 comments:

  1. so he gained naked-vision by a homeless man in an alley.....?

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  2. I think he's seeing in more than just naked-vision.

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    1. Could you elaborate just a teeny bit on that?

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    2. He's Probabally seeing demons,
      hallucinations, ect...
      and that's why the guy said "i want out"
      he wanted to get out of that fucking demon plane of existance,
      i have no idea how he could pass it on though, maybe eye contact?

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  3. I think I gained naked vision from a guy in the park. Or maybe he was just naked. Either way, it was an interesting trip to the park.

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  4. "His left eye had no iris. No pupil, either. Just white." Followed up by, "I gazed into his two sparkling green eyes."

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  5. I think he means it deeper than just naked down to skin... think about it... it could mean something great. Naked to the flesh? To the soul? Seeing things for what they fundementally are? Heavy shit, man.

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  6. I thought the sudden eye change was a body switch or something.

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  7. I DONT UNDERSTAND!!

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  8. True story,I used to walk two miles to work along the campus/"downtown" were i live. I once came a cross a homeless guy masturbating in a booth at the McDonalds i USED to stop at for breakfast, but not so much anymore.After reading this i know wonder if his "affliction" has now RUBBED off on me as well.

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  9. "I think he means it deeper than just naked down to skin... think about it... it could mean something great. Naked to the flesh? To the soul? Seeing things for what they fundementally are? Heavy shit, man."
    This is what i thought too.

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  10. ...I love you all...xDD

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  11. Well, I've read a similar story a long time ago, this was a simple case of soul swapping, the homeless man's soul took over the main character's body........and the business man;s soul was put into the homeless man's body. I bet it was the white eye, I'm sure that if he were to look at another person the same way he could get a new body.

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  12. I've seen that way. Seeing alternate views that people keep hidden. Literally, Stick figures replaced "models", Hutts now and then, and Anthros--I squee'd. Oh yeah, where there is quiet ones, their minds twisted in reality and humanity.

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