An unlikely friendship

Part 2

Whoever it was who had left the blanket and gloves,Dec was extremely grateful to them.

He didn't shiver quite so much as he fell asleep that night,so he wished he could have thanked them,but he didn't even know if it was the same person who had left both items.

"Slim pickings" Betty frowned as she sat down next to Dec the following morning.

"Never mind Betty" Dec smiled "too cold for many people to be out and about I guess"

"Yeah" Betty nodded "all curled up nice and cosy in front of their fires"

"Yeah" Dec nodded sadly.

"Found this though" Betty announced proudly as she took a smartie tube out of her pocket and tipped the contents into the palm of her hand.

"Two left" she observed "you want orange or green?"

"Orange please" Dec smiled.

"Suck it slowly" Betty advised as Dec placed the tiny chocolate in his mouth "it'll last longer"

Dec did exactly as Betty suggested,he couldn't remember the last time he'd had chocolate and it tasted so good as it melted slowly on his tongue.

"Thanks Betty" Dec smiled gratefully "that was amazing"

"You're very welcome sweetheart" Betty smiled.

"My daughter loves smarties" Dec said sadly,more to himself than to Betty.

"Most kids do" Betty nodded "want to tell me about her"

Dec shook his head as he fought to hold back tears.

"Ok,no hurry" Betty smiled.

"Look at these" Dec beamed,quickly changing the subject and holding up his new gloves.

"Ooh,nice" Betty laughed "someone's got a soft spot for you I think,maybe a gorgeous,leggy blonde?"

"Don't be daft" Dec giggled.

"Well,I'm glad someone is looking out for you" Betty smiled,before patting Dec on the leg and making her way off to start her daily ritual.

Dec also went about his own ritual.

Freshening up in the toilets and basically just begging...that was a full time job.

As usual,the day was long and boring and once evening arrived,he went off to sit on his favourite bench and watch the world go by.

As he returned to his patch a couple of hours later,he was surprised to see a smartly dressed man leaning over his belongings.

'What the hell does he want?' Dec thought to himself,he obviously wasn't homeless by the look of him,so what possible interest could Dec be to him?

"Can I help you?" Dec asked in a rather unfriendly tone as he approached the man from behind.

"Oh...er...sorry" the man replied startled at Dec's sudden appearance.

"What are you doing?" Dec demanded to know.

The man held the woolly hat that he was clutching in one hand up towards Dec's face.

"Just thought you might like this" he said sheepishly.

"Wait a minute" Dec replied "are you the one who's been leaving me things?the blanket?the gloves?now a hat?"

"Guilty as charged" the man smiled.

"Buy why?" Dec asked confused.

"Don't know really" the man shrugged "I've walked past you a hundred times and you just seem like you need a little bit more help than the others"