Hugging a Stranger

Chapter 5

I woke up early Sunday morning feeling content and well rested. Sleeping in one place through the whole night was definitely having a good effect on me. I was feeling really good about how my life was changing, when just a few weeks ago I could not even imagine how to get out of the mess I was in. I found a job without looking, just walking down the street. I met an amazing girl while I was hanging out in the subway station acting like a goof. The weather was warming up and so was my life. I decided to walk outside, even though I had no particular place to go, a feeling I was very familiar with.

I like that there are fewer people on the streets on Sunday mornings compared to other mornings, but there are always people buzzing around at any hour. New York never takes a break.

The Catholic church up the street had just ended their early Mass and people were spilling out onto the sidewalk. I stopped to watch them clear out and then decided to go inside. It was the first time I had walked into that church without looking for a place to rest or get out of the weather. Instead, this time I wanted to light a candle for my mom and say thanks for my job and Alicia. Then I remembered Thomas and Jeff and while I did say a quick prayer for Thomas in detox, I also said "Fuck Jeff" under my breath. I'm no saint.

I stood up to leave and a little old lady started calling in a really loud half-whisper, "Young man, young man! Wait just a minute!" She really was tiny, like a miniature person wearing extremely fashionable clothes. In fact, as she tilted her head up at me, she looked like a little doll. A little old doll. "Excuse me, young man, what is your name?"

"Ray," I answered, and stuck out my hand. She took my hand in both of hers and clutched it.

"And how old are you, Ray?"

"Twenty-two."

"And do you have a girlfriend?"

I laughed and answered, "Well, there is a special girl who has come into my life recently."

"Dammit!" She exclaimed, right there in church, which made me instantly like her. "I was hoping to introduce you to my granddaughter. All the good ones are taken, just like she says! A good Catholic boy, no less."

"Oh, I'm no good Catholic," I laughed. I was all about misleading people these days, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

"Now see, just the humility of saying so tells me you are a nice boy. Besides, I saw you praying over there."

"I was just saying thanks for a few things. It's not like I was saying the rosary or anything."

"A prayer of sincere gratitude is worth more than a thousand rosaries," she smiled at me still holding my hand. "Now, tell me Ray, are you going over to the rummage sale?"

"No, wasn't planning on it."

"Well, would you walk me over there? I have trouble with the stairs."

"Sure," I answered and offered my arm even though she seemed to get around just fine. She held on tight to my arm and led me to the adjacent building and down into the basement. The church was having what looked like one giant garage sale. Garage sales are really not my thing, but I spotted a bunch of books on a table with a sign saying 25 cents each for paperbacks. I said goodbye to the little lady and started perusing the book collection. I looked up and around and noticed that the people didn't look half bad. I thought a rummage sale meant a lot of trash and there would be scroungy people there, but the crowd looked pretty normal. Except for the homeless guy standing next to me checking out the book collection. He smelt like piss and he was going through the box of books with serious determination. I know the feeling. When you don't have any place to store the books, you need to find one really good one.