Down and Out: sleeping in the subway

I just missed the subway, so I decide to take the weight off my feet and start walking down the platform towards the seats.

When I get there, there is a big guy stretched out on the seats. He’s face down and motionless … dead to the world. He is taking up most of the seating area.

The guy is wearing a dirty greyish brown coat. He looks as if he has been sleeping in the mud or something.

He is definitely one of those homeless people. The ones you see in most subway stations nowadays.

I’m pissed off because he’s taking up most of the seats – except for about three feet.

Well, I say to myself, at least that something. The guy has a conscience – maybe.

So I park myself next to his dirty boots anyway. But it still bothers me that he didn’t leave me very much room to sit.

He easily could have streteched himself out on the floor against the wall and I probably would have never noticed. People sleeping in the subway are such a common sight.

For a moment I think of shaking him awake and asking him to move his feet. But I soon think better of it.

I remember once when I tried to pick up a homeless guy off the sidewalk. The guy was so drunk he couldn’t stand.

As I tried to pick him up my friends immmidiately began to beraten me. They told me empthatically that guys like him in his condition might have a knife and might think you’re trying to rob him or something.

“It dangerous” they said.

So one my friends went into a nearby restaurant and asked the owner to call the police.

As I was sitting there and looking at the homeless guy next to me, it hit that the discomfort I’m feeling is nothing compared to the discomfort he must feel everyday with no place of his own to lay his head.