The first woman I approached was holding a basket of oranges. I cleared my throat and asked if she might spare a dollar for something to eat.
She pinched her nose so hard her knuckles went white.
“God, you smell like rotten meat.”
She walked away without looking back.
I tried a man near the bakery. He didn’t even let me speak.
He raised the phone and pointed the camera at me.
“People like that shouldn’t be allowed in here,” he muttered to the woman beside him. “What’s security doing?”
I kept walking. A clean-cut teenage boy in a varsity jacket stood near the soup aisle, scrolling on his phone. I asked him, very softly, if he could buy me one can of beef stew.
His face lit up like I’d handed him a gift.
“Oh my God. Hold on, hold on.”
He raised the phone and pointed the camera at me.
He laughed and followed me for a few steps before losing interest.
“I’m putting you on TikTok,” he said, grinning. “People will pay me just to see how awful you look. Say something. Say anything.”
I lowered my head and shuffled past him.
He laughed and followed me for a few steps before losing interest.
I made it three more aisles before a young man in a store polo approached. The name tag said ASSISTANT MANAGER. I had probably signed off on his hiring paperwork without ever seeing his face.
He wrinkled his nose and folded his arms.
I turned toward the exit, the guard tracking me step for step.
“Sir, customers are complaining about the smell. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I just need a little food,” I whispered.
“There’s a shelter on Eighth,” he said, already lifting a hand to flag down a uniformed guard near the exit. “We can’t have you in here. Please.”
I stood very still in the middle of the aisle, the guard’s stare pressing against the side of my face.
I turned toward the exit, the guard tracking me step for step.
And then a small hand grabbed my sleeve so hard I nearly stumbled into the cane.
Because there was nothing here. No one had stopped. No one had even looked at me long enough to see a human being.
I was wrong.
There was no kindness left.
The automatic doors were six steps away. Then four. Then two.
And then a small hand grabbed my sleeve so hard I nearly stumbled into the cane.
“Sir?”
And what I saw nearly knocked me to the floor.
The voice was high and trembling, barely above a whisper.
I turned around slowly, my heart already doing something strange in my chest.
And what I saw nearly knocked me to the floor.
Instead, I found a thin girl in a faded school uniform. She was clutching a crumpled bill and a single can of beef stew.
“I’m sorry I grabbed you so hard,” she whispered. “I just didn’t want you to leave hungry.”
I stared at her. She couldn’t have been more than twelve.
