“H2O: two parts Heart and one part Obsession.”
Author unknown
Often, I am amazed at how much the world is changing, but none more so than last week when I stopped at the gas station for gas and a cup of Southern Pecan coffee. I like Southern Pecan coffee, not for regular fare, but as an occasional treat. Before my hand touched the coffee pot, a small fellow approached. He looked up with deep chocolate eyes and an expression of some urgency.
He said, “Can I have five dollars?”
The little man looked about 8 years old. I was momentarily taken aback.
“Five dollars? Really. Five dollars?” I asked.
Didn’t kids his age used to ask for a quarter? Maybe 50 cents?
“I need five dollars to go to the pool,” he continued.
“Do you know how to swim?”
He assured me he did. I tried to size him up — an ability I’ve proven over and over not to possess. I knew there was a city pool just a few blocks away, but five dollars? He was hardly that big.
“This is not for drugs, is it?”
He said it wasn’t. I was playing with him a bit and thinking about five dollars.
I offered to check my wallet to see what I had. As I opened my wallet he stuck his little head between me and the wallet.
“Back up,” I said, “I can’t see my wallet for your head.”
I had three one dollar bills and I gave them to him. He looked crestfallen. Three dollars wouldn’t be enough to get into the swimming pool. “You can ask someone else for the rest,” I suggested.
He thanked me. At least I think he did. I watched as he went out the door and met up with a friend; the friend looked about 12.
I kept an eye on the boys as I got my Southern Pecan and paid the cashier. The boys were talking to a man in a red truck. Leaving the store, I asked the man if the boys were hitting him up for pool money. He laughed and said he knew the boys.
“You think they can swim?” I asked. He smiled again and said yes, he thought they could. He said they were good boys.
When I got back to my computer I looked up city parks and recreation until I found the nearby pool, the young man’s object of desire. Sure enough the pool prices were three dollars Monday through Thursday and five dollars on Friday through Sunday. It was Friday.
The rest of the day I smiled as I thought about our brief encounter and his eager little face. What a boy wouldn’t do to get to go to the swimming pool on a hot summer day, him and his buddy. To an 8-year-old five dollars must seem like a fortune. He was hardly old enough to work for it. I thought about myself of bygone days, riding my bicycle to the city pool. Probably with two quarters clutched tightly in my hand.
I sure hope somebody gave the little man two extra dollars.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.