#67. THE FRUSTRATED HUSTLER
Young man enters the Park from the north, from Fifth Avenue. Wears a dark blue jacket and grey pants hanging so low in the back you could see half his crack if he wasn’t wearing long underwear.
Unsmiling, he strides as if on a mission but stops many times to panhandle. Quick little conversations, just as quick rejections. Two women on a bench, three on the next, two men standing. I follow to see his success rate.
No. No. No. No.
Wait, number fifteen gives him a cigarette.
He keeps moving south through the Park. Twenty attempts, twenty rejections. Then he bumps an old man with a cane and an ugly shouting match ensues. No punches thrown, but he angrily kicks over a sandwich board sign asking people to walk bikes in the Park.
And then he’s gone, out of the Park and down Sullivan Street.
What happened next? We’ll never know.
Comments
Post a Comment