What an act!
For a few years I've regularly seen a beggar in a subway station in Brooklyn, sitting on the floor of a busy corridor asking passers-by for cash. He's a large guy, looks pretty filthy, scruffy beard, hair and what not. He always has what look like old, ragged jeans cut up and pinned to his pants, like chaps, that I assumed were for extra insulation. And he has a large, dirty, black plastic garbage bag.
I've given him a dollar or two (which is something I rarely do).
The past year or so he's often walked around, dragging his plastic garbage bag, talking seemingly nonsense aloud, on the 3 or 4 platforms to get a train going the same direction as me, at the early side of the morning rush hour.
This morning it was on the 3 platform, there was another ragged guy sleeping on the ground, his backpack as a pillow. The regular beggar walked by, asking "you alright man?" and the sleeper said he was. As the regular beggar was right in front of me the other guy said "I'm hungry, I ain't got money, I'm hungry" and they had a conversation about whether he meant it or if it was just bullshit. Then the regular beggar slid some packaged food along the floor to the sleeper, who sat up but didn't reach for the food. I heard the regular beggar's voice different than when he's been on the floor begging.
The 3 train came, he got into the last car, I got into the second-to-last car and the train took off...
A couple of stops later, a guy whose face looked remarkably like his walked from the last car to the second-to-last car, continuing to a few seats away from me. This guy had on nice jeans, carried a fashionable backpack, neat hair and beard. He dug a large smartphone out of his backpack, and an iPad, and then took out a wad of cash that he counted. And he was talking the same seemingly nonsense, with the same voice he used to talk to the sleeper on the platform... I looked through the window to the car behind, and it was empty.
As we prepared to get off the train at Crown Heights - Utica Avenue, the cash counting guy was stuffing everything back into his backpack, and partially pulled out a black plastic garbage bag as he was arranging his stuff, then shoved it back in.
For a few years I've regularly seen a beggar in a subway station in Brooklyn, sitting on the floor of a busy corridor asking passers-by for cash. He's a large guy, looks pretty filthy, scruffy beard, hair and what not. He always has what look like old, ragged jeans cut up and pinned to his pants, like chaps, that I assumed were for extra insulation. And he has a large, dirty, black plastic garbage bag.
I've given him a dollar or two (which is something I rarely do).
The past year or so he's often walked around, dragging his plastic garbage bag, talking seemingly nonsense aloud, on the 3 or 4 platforms to get a train going the same direction as me, at the early side of the morning rush hour.
This morning it was on the 3 platform, there was another ragged guy sleeping on the ground, his backpack as a pillow. The regular beggar walked by, asking "you alright man?" and the sleeper said he was. As the regular beggar was right in front of me the other guy said "I'm hungry, I ain't got money, I'm hungry" and they had a conversation about whether he meant it or if it was just bullshit. Then the regular beggar slid some packaged food along the floor to the sleeper, who sat up but didn't reach for the food. I heard the regular beggar's voice different than when he's been on the floor begging.
The 3 train came, he got into the last car, I got into the second-to-last car and the train took off...
A couple of stops later, a guy whose face looked remarkably like his walked from the last car to the second-to-last car, continuing to a few seats away from me. This guy had on nice jeans, carried a fashionable backpack, neat hair and beard. He dug a large smartphone out of his backpack, and an iPad, and then took out a wad of cash that he counted. And he was talking the same seemingly nonsense, with the same voice he used to talk to the sleeper on the platform... I looked through the window to the car behind, and it was empty.
As we prepared to get off the train at Crown Heights - Utica Avenue, the cash counting guy was stuffing everything back into his backpack, and partially pulled out a black plastic garbage bag as he was arranging his stuff, then shoved it back in.
