Derecho a la iglesia

Let me pose this to you:

Last night was dead at work. I took four calls in 7.5 hours. Then, I was allowed to leave an hour early. I had to wait for Gabi to come get me so we could play a little dominoes as I always do on Tuesday night. Gabi was in town for reasons that shall currently remain anonymous, but they were reasons nonetheless.

I sat for a few minutes at work until I realize I'd be sitting for quite a while. It takes about 25 minutes to drive the 5 miles from home to work in Boston. So, I decided to walk to South Station, where I normally catch the train, waiting there instead. A cabbie or two thought I might be a fare and gave me a honk and a wave and a question. I stepped back from the road.

Another man might also have seen a fare. I'm not sure exactly what he saw. He spoke fewer words of English than I did of Spanish, so amid the fumbling over language he communicated to me that he wanted to find a church, or someplace else he could sleep with his wife and child for the night. Just for tonight, on the way to somewhere else in Massachusetts. A pretty legit story since people around these parts generally don't think of sleeping at a church overnight, also because South Station is where the trains and buses come into Boston from all over.

I pointed him toward the nearest church I knew, no telling what they might do for him there since it's more likely to find a 24-hour consumer shoppe full of goods than it is to find a church with its doors open. Funny how the face of God in society is full of fear at night while the face of money is not.

Lastly, of course, he asked for some dinero por la comida. I had some cash in my wallet, but not much. I gave him 5 of my 8 ones. Even if it turns out he's just some scam artist, I got to practice my fledgling Spanish with a real live native speaker and it worked. For that, I'd pay $5. A lot of you have probably paid more than that in school taxes or tuition, or your parents have, for some b.s. lessons that didn't get you anywhere. If he was telling the truth, then a divine appointment led me to get a ride and leave early and make the decision to stand on that street corner to be a blessing, and for that I'd give everything. I think the $5 was a fair compromise. I would have missed out one way or another if I just ignored the guy.

It's how I do everything. Life is better that way.