It's Cold Out There

Snowflakes begin to fall from the sky, onto the awaiting city streets. It's a frail snow - the kind that takes its time drifting down at half-speed, carried by the wind, and evaporates right before your eyes as you exhale to see if your breath is visible in the crisp December air. He stands outside on the sidewalk, with his chin pressed down into his chest, and his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his long winter coat, digging for any bit of extra warmth that can be found hidden between the seams. Stationed underneath a walkway of scaffolding, he watches the world pass him by, as he asks downtown pedestrians, with a slight tinge of shame in his voice, if they have any change to spare.

His name is Richard. Standing at roughly 6'1" and carrying a slim frame, he is a middle-aged, African-American man, with lines crossing his face, and patches of white streaking through his bushy, unkempt mustache. His fingernails are a little grimy, and his pants are too short to cover his legs. He is also cold and hungry.

Richard's been in Cleveland for only a month. Before resettling here, he spent his entire life north of New York City in The Bronx. He speaks fondly of 42nd Street, going to the Apollo, and his cousin Ralph who played Michael Evans on "Good Times". But he says he likes it in Cleveland, where he spends his days surveying the streets and his nights at a local homeless shelter. He has 60 more days there before exceeding the shelter's time limit for extended stays, when he'll need to find new arrangements for himself, so that his cot can be freed up for another man in need of a place to sleep.

He doesn't plan on being at the shelter much longer though. He hopes to find a job soon working for the city in some capacity, maybe with the sanitation department. But first things first, he hopes to find girlfriend (a man does have priorities...). Richard speaks of his future clearly and with conviction. He interacts with others politely and with respect. And he prefers barbeque sauce on his chicken wings.

Often times while on the street, Richard wonders about what the rest of the world thinks about him. He questions how the people who pass him by, and even those who give him money, view this homeless man. As he stands there on the sidewalk and night begins to overtake the skyline, he ponders these things, even though in his head, he already knows the answers. What Richard doesn't know yet though, is how cold a Cleveland winter can really be.