Member-only story
That Guy
Encounter on a street corner
Travis had worked for several years at a downtown store. He was now unemployed and after a day of job hunting he decided to clear his head by taking a leisurely walk downtown — not thinking about finding work or his finances or his perilous state. It was just a walk for the sake of relaxation.
As he reached a street corner he started hearing someone yelling. He looked across the street at the opposite street corner and there was a short man waving and yelling in his direction. Looking around, Travis realized that he was the only one in that area of the street. That guy was obviously waving and yelling at him.
During a break in traffic the guy ran across the street towards him. Travis was not sure what to do so he just stood there. As the man approached him, Travis remembered him. He had waited on this man several times at the store where he used to work. Travis’ coworkers referred to the man as, ‘The Retard.”
He was a short man, no more than five feet tall. He had a significant speech impediment. He also had enormous amounts of hair growing out of his ears and his nose. His head hair was always uncombed and he always wore way too much clothing for what the weather called for. He had a very feminine way of gesturing and body language. He was always very eager to talk and talk and talk.
