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rosehiptea.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2007-05-20 08:17 pm
rosehiptea.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-05-20 08:17 pm
[May 20] [Original] Investment
Title: Investment
Day/Theme: May 20/ROI (return on investment)
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Ed, narrator
Rating: G
Cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rosehiptea.
Ed wasn't a bad person, just the sort of guy who rides around in the car pool and makes politically conservative noises now and then. He never bothered me much, not in the car or at work where I hardly ever saw him. I'm pretty seriously liberal, even if I do keep it to myself most of the time, so I was all right with staying out of his way.
Then there was the day the homeless guy was out on the sidewalk. They usually don't go to that street, maybe because the police are always cruising down it, but this guy was out there with his glazed eyes and filthy blanket holding a cardboard "please help" sign.
I gritted my teeth, because I feel sorry for people like that, seriously sorry, and I expected Ed to pipe up about how he should get a job. And for once I was going to get angry, because you didn't have to do more than look at the guy to tell why he didn't have a job.
Ed was next to me in the back, on the driver's side, and I could see him staring at the guy. Then the next thing I know he's vaulting over me, and unrolling the window. And he hands the guy a bill. It was a ten; I could see it. The guy just grins with a few teeth and takes the money, and Ed sits back down, not looking pleased with himself but not looking ashamed either.
"You just gave that guy a ten-" I start.
"I'm buying my way into heaven," Ed mutters.
I never thought of him as religious, and I'm still not sure he is. It was blocks later before it occurred to me that I hadn't given the guy a damn thing but good intentions.
Day/Theme: May 20/ROI (return on investment)
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Ed, narrator
Rating: G
Cross-posted to
rosehiptea.Ed wasn't a bad person, just the sort of guy who rides around in the car pool and makes politically conservative noises now and then. He never bothered me much, not in the car or at work where I hardly ever saw him. I'm pretty seriously liberal, even if I do keep it to myself most of the time, so I was all right with staying out of his way.
Then there was the day the homeless guy was out on the sidewalk. They usually don't go to that street, maybe because the police are always cruising down it, but this guy was out there with his glazed eyes and filthy blanket holding a cardboard "please help" sign.
I gritted my teeth, because I feel sorry for people like that, seriously sorry, and I expected Ed to pipe up about how he should get a job. And for once I was going to get angry, because you didn't have to do more than look at the guy to tell why he didn't have a job.
Ed was next to me in the back, on the driver's side, and I could see him staring at the guy. Then the next thing I know he's vaulting over me, and unrolling the window. And he hands the guy a bill. It was a ten; I could see it. The guy just grins with a few teeth and takes the money, and Ed sits back down, not looking pleased with himself but not looking ashamed either.
"You just gave that guy a ten-" I start.
"I'm buying my way into heaven," Ed mutters.
I never thought of him as religious, and I'm still not sure he is. It was blocks later before it occurred to me that I hadn't given the guy a damn thing but good intentions.