Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Stuff like that happens all the time.” That really didn't make me feel better, but somehow I
knew this man would look after me.
I know that sometimes home is just a temporary space, the small little nook we carve
out between where we've been and where we're going, and in that place, we create fam-
ily. We have no choice but to create family. In many ways, I felt more connected to Tony
than I did to those I knew and loved. Suddenly, the big deal, the great project, whatever
insignificant thing I thought was important faded away. In that moment, the only thing that
mattered was my connection with this human being. In the morning, I found out just how
right my instinct was.
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked as I folded up my bed.
“I slept okay. Just trying to keep those bugs off you.”
Those bugs off me?
All throughout the night, while I snored dutifully away, Tony had been picking the bugs
off of me, trying to keep me safe and comfortable.
Unlike being a cowboy, I have never dreamed of being homeless. I doubt anybody has.
But I always had preconceived ideas about what it meant. Primarily that you had to be a
drug addict or mentally ill. I wanted to deny the idea that a good, honest man could find his
way down the rabbit hole, just through poor luck and bad decisions.
The night before, Tony had told me how he had tried to go to school at least six different
times over the years. When I asked what he had wanted to study, he laughed, “Anything
that would give me a better life.”
But then he stopped, truth rising up out of his easy reply, “I've always wanted to cook.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, I don't know. I guess, I like taking care of people, and you know, the best way to
do that is to fill their bellies.” He chuckled.
As I tossed and turned throughout the night, I had decided that I would give my next gift
to Tony. I wanted him to realize the dream that was lost so many years ago. I wanted his
kindness to reach beyond the confines of the park and out into the vastness of the world. I
would help Tony get off the streets. I would get him housing. I would help him enroll again
in school. And I would be his friend, for life.
“Tony,” I asked as the sun rose over Pittsburgh. “Can I give you a ride in Kindness
One?”
“Yeah, that'll be cool,” he agreed innocently.
