Change

Been thinking all day about a woman who approached me this morning as I was loading groceries into my car at HEB. She was dressed A LOT better than I was, make-up on her face, purse hanging on her arm, long painted nails. The first thing she said to me was, "I'm not homeless." Felt like she assumed I'd think less of someone clearly approaching me to ask for something if they were homeless as opposed to "not homeless". Made me wonder. I listened to her as she told me a long story about how she needed to get meds somewhere, I think at a different HEB, because someone had changed something, all the while waving a prescription receipt in the air. Then she told me that the bus rates had gone up. She had a pamphlet about this that she waved as well. As she spoke I could see the gaps in her mouth where her teeth had once been, gold flashing on the teeth that remained. I let her finish, her need still not clearly stated.

"Do you need some cash?"

She nodded and I pulled my wallet out and retrieved all the change that I had and let it fall into her hand, our fingers lightly touching. She turned abruptly and walked away in the direction she had come from, hunching over, counting her money.

I know, I know...there's a watermark.  

I'm not a fan, but I'm taking the recommendation 

of someone who knows what they're talking about.