The
Windmill roadhouse in East London is also the bus stop on the route
from Cape Town to Durban, I waited for the Durban bus and bought myself
one of the excellent hamburgers on sale there. As usual I went and sat
on the low wall next to the pavement where I could watch to see when the
bus came into view.
There was a fellow sitting a little way from me, dirty, unkempt obviously down on his luck and I thought about how difficult it is to climb back once you had slipped down to his level, his eyes darted from one person to the other and I knew he was well aware of what was happening around him, and I knew he was looking for a mark, a person with a soft touch, there where too many mirrors in my past that could reflect that scene and I went up to him and offered him my burger.
He looked at me and accepted it with cupped upturned palms as if he was making a bowl, I realized by the colour of his palms that he was white, a fact that was disguised by the sun burnt skin and layers of dirt. He looked me in the eye and said in Afrikaans "God bless you sir", I watched him from a distance, he was eating slowly, enjoying every mouth full, chewing long as if to get the maximum enjoyment out of the experience.
I had quite forgotten about him when he came up to me and said that he wanted to thank me for the food and wish me another devine blessing, then he asked me for some money "asseblief oom maak n las ", please sir give me some money, I knew he thought he had found his soft mark, but I did not mind, I gave him a two rand coin, he cupped it in his hand, making a fist around it and said God bless you sir, then he paused and said, but not as much as for the food.
I looked away across the sea, I did not want him to think that the smile on my face was intended as appreciation, it was not, I was thinking that in these bad economic times everything had a net worth, even blessings, and I thought that when last did I buy myself a hamburgers worth of blessings and got two for the price of one.
There was a fellow sitting a little way from me, dirty, unkempt obviously down on his luck and I thought about how difficult it is to climb back once you had slipped down to his level, his eyes darted from one person to the other and I knew he was well aware of what was happening around him, and I knew he was looking for a mark, a person with a soft touch, there where too many mirrors in my past that could reflect that scene and I went up to him and offered him my burger.
He looked at me and accepted it with cupped upturned palms as if he was making a bowl, I realized by the colour of his palms that he was white, a fact that was disguised by the sun burnt skin and layers of dirt. He looked me in the eye and said in Afrikaans "God bless you sir", I watched him from a distance, he was eating slowly, enjoying every mouth full, chewing long as if to get the maximum enjoyment out of the experience.
I had quite forgotten about him when he came up to me and said that he wanted to thank me for the food and wish me another devine blessing, then he asked me for some money "asseblief oom maak n las ", please sir give me some money, I knew he thought he had found his soft mark, but I did not mind, I gave him a two rand coin, he cupped it in his hand, making a fist around it and said God bless you sir, then he paused and said, but not as much as for the food.
I looked away across the sea, I did not want him to think that the smile on my face was intended as appreciation, it was not, I was thinking that in these bad economic times everything had a net worth, even blessings, and I thought that when last did I buy myself a hamburgers worth of blessings and got two for the price of one.
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