Just happened and I just wrote this flat out so ignore any typos, grammar infractions.. even logical progression... I was trying to get feelings down on paper, so to speak.

So, I'm down ta the Powerhouse, the one in the building complex what got the Fairlanes Bowling in er, an I see this guy squatted and holding a cardboard sign in front of the vacant shop next door. I got outta me truck (he couldn't see me) and checked me billfold. No fivers, so's I go in making sure not to look in his direction, got me case and got a fiver in hand. I comes out an he's gone. Fuck me!

I was immediately taken back to a similar incident some years ago.
I'm up ta my buddy's corner store an as I am backin out, this guy what looks in his 60s was comin toward the truck with one hand extended. I looked directly in his eyes... I could see a desperation, a fear. I saw red blues eyes and several days of white beard growth. He didn't look good and I felt a desperation, fear. I took off. I turned onto the street and felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. I asked out loud, loudly, "Why didn't you help that man? What the fuck is wrong with you?" I made a left into a gas bar just 200 m away and went back. He was gone. I drove around the block… he had vanished… no way he could have gotten further away unless he was driving and I just couldn't see that. I was pissed off at me. And then it hit me. I pictured his face in my mind and it was me. I swear that he looked like me. Is that what had frightened me. I continued to look for him but to no avail. It weighed on my mind… still does.

Well, this time? No fuckin way! I roared that truck up to the main drag. Nope. I floored that truck back around the building complex an I spies a guy on a bike an he's got a piece a cardboard. I zipped up alongside an I says, "Hey buddy. I seen ya back there with a sign. What's it say?" "I'm trying to get help." I handed him the fiver and he thanks me sooo much. Then he tells me he's tryin ta get money ta get back home on accounta he's livin in a roomin house on assistance an he lost his job an… I stopped him, got me wallet out and said "I'll trade ya a ten for that fiver. He takes ta thankin me profusely again and I knew… I asked "Where ya from?" Stephenville, NF… he can get a hitch but he's gotta come up with $165 fer gas an… I stopped him and held out the fiver an said "When you get to Stephenville, you look up Ed LaValley an tell him Gary Owens told you to say hello for him." He started all over again and I said "You just remember to tell Ed Lavalley that Gary Owens said hello." I drove away.

I hope he gets home. I hope he contacts Ed. My hello might be worth a lot more than $15.

Odd thing how odd things happen eh?