The Heart of a Child

My prompt today was to write a story about a beggar who loves to hear himself sing.

     “He’s at it again,” she told him, nudging him toward the other side of the street. “Quick, let’s cross here.” As they crossed the street, they could hear him growing louder and louder. The next person to walk by would not escape so quickly.

     A man dressed in neatly pressed slacks, a crisp clean oxford, with a tie placed almost to perfection around his neck, tried to dodge as the beggar walked closely up to him, face to face. Seeing the two of them side by side was like night and day.

     It was obvious that the poor man had not bathed in quite a while. His clothes discolored from sweat and dirt from living on the streets. His hair was matted into a mess that could not be combed. Yet he lifted his voice loudly, wavering back and forth in and out of key. As he sang he waved his arms around in front of the well dressed man, trying to get through.

     The obviously annoyed, neatly dressed man, reached into his pocket and gave the man some change. The beggar sang some sort of thank you and danced over to the next passerby. He could and would do this all day, singing from one to another, making gestures with his arms, tipping his hat on occasion.

     Walking on the other side of the street were those who had managed to cross and avoid him, as well as a few other folks going about whatever business was on their agenda today. Suddenly, an 8 year old boy managed to slip his hand out of his mother’s and bolt across the street, taking her by surprise, and leaving her with the most horrifying look on her face as she attempted to catch up to him, praying out loud as he ran through the street.

     "Hey Mister?” he said to the beggar.

     “Why hello there young fella. How are you today?” he sang as he knelt on one knee to face the child.

     “We are on our way to the toy store,” said the boy. “I have worked all week long to earn enough money for a truck that I wanted. I heard you singing. Would you sing me a song?”

     “Why sure I will? What would you like to hear?”

     The boy twiddled his fingers and then replied, “Jesus loves me.” The beggar sat down on the nearest bench and much to his surprise, the boy climbed onto his lap. When the song was over, the boy hopped down, stuck out his hand to request a handshake, and said, “Thank you. That was so good.”

     The beggar shook his hand, and the boy lunged to hug him. The mother, still in shock, not knowing what to say, just stood with her arm outstretched waiting. But the boy wasn’t finished. He had seen others pay the man for his songs, so he reached in his pocket, pulled out crumpled up one dollar bills and some change and said, “Here, this is for you. Maybe you can sing to me again sometime.  I like that much better than any old truck.”

     By now a crowd had gathered, watching with tears rolling down their faces. One after another, came by to shake the man’s hand. Then one after another went directly to the toy store.