Just a Slice of Pizza

I was having dinner in one of these 1$-a-slice pizza joints as a black guy with his sleeping bag under his arm approached me. A handshake, and the next moment he was sitting at my table. He asked me if I was having a good time, and said I was looking sad. But I was just tired, and I told him so. He then told me he was living on the beach right now, and asked if I could give him some money. I couldn't, since I only had my credit card with me. He told me that yesterday the police put him in prison. He was just drinking a can of beer on the beach. He never was in prison before. He's from Alabama. He is 32 years old. All his talking was in this tired, enumerative style. He then turned his head to the side and mumbled something that as far as I could understand was something like “Please give me some money so I can get some[...].” He said it almost as if crying, as if in pain, and he had an expression on his face that was distorted, full of pain. It broke my heart.

I asked him if he wanted pizza. He said yes and signaled two slices, so I bought him pizza. I've never seen somebody eating like he did. With three massive bites, he filled his mouth with about half a slice of pizza, it almost fell out again. I asked him when he got something to eat for the last time. It must have been one or two days. Why didn't I ask him if he wanted some more? Sometimes I just don't think, like I have a blockade.

The thought that people just want something as simple as a slice of pizza, see others having it, asking them for one, but just not being able to get one...Just imagine how they must feel. Every day. It is so hard to bear for me. He had so much pain in his eyes. He thanked me, and walked away.

I went to the beach afterwards. About ten meters from me there was a pelican. He was floating there in the middle of the waves, flying up, diving down, then munching his fish while surfing on a breaking wave. Bad-ass pelican.