Jeffrey was hanging out behind my office this past Saturday. It was immediately obvious to me Jeffrey was living on the street. I went in to work, locked the door behind me (as I always do on Saturdays) and quickly forgot about it. As I was leaving work around noon I saw Jeffrey again walking down the street with some type of drink in his hand. Good, I thought, he got something cold to drink for this record-setting hot day.
Late Easter Sunday afternoon I came to the office to pick up a couple of things and vacuum the floors. Jeffrey was again behind my office sleeping on the sidewalk - gear in tow - and looking horrid. It was record-setting hot here in Texas on Sunday - it got even hotter through the week - and I was concerned. Understand my office is in an o.k. part of town, but it backs up to a creek and heavy woods. It's not too uncommon to see strangers resting behind my office or to see someone wonder in from the woods area - not often, but it does happen. This part of town was essentially deserted on Easter Sunday, but... I gathered some confidence, said a prayer and went around back to meet Jeffrey. He was only partially coherent, tired and obviously very hot. I offered him a bottle of water - he refused; offered him a few dollars - he refused. I told him to meet me Monday morning and I'd try to help him. He nodded and I left. A few minutes later Jeffrey knocked on my door, which I had since re-locked. I opened it up - he said he would like to meet me Monday morning - maybe I would have work for him - he was looking for work. I said come back and we'd talk. I assumed he wouldn't.
I left the office shaken by the incident. I'm not sure why, but I was. Un-nerved, guilty, insecure about what to do - all those things flowing through my mind. A weird Easter Sunday - it would get weirder.
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