When I attended my high school reunion in 2007 in Downtown Little Rock, I did not see a single bum. “Wow this is nothing like Downtown Memphis,” I thought.
Well, two years later, either things have changed for the worse in Little Rock, or the bums were there in ’07 and I didn’t see them. I got panhandled at the bar at the Little Rock Flying Saucer. This guy came in and he already had his money out, a $1 bill and about another dollar in change. “Hey man, what’s the cheapest beer they got here?” he asked me.
“Well, they have all of the Diamond Bear beers on Fire Sale for $2.75 today,” I told him. “I believe those would be cheapest.” I knew what was coming next.
“$2.75? I’ve only got about two dollars, do you think you can help me with 75 cents?” I will give him credit, he actually said “75 cents” rather than “75 cent.” I told him I couldn’t help him, and then he tried to negotiate with the bartender to lower the price of a Bud Light to the amount of money he had. That didn’t work out for him, and he left.
That was the only time I actually got panhandled. Saw several other street people who may have been panhandling, but thanks to my years in Downtown Memphis I’ve learned how to project a “not worth the trouble” image, so they left me alone.
I’m back in Memphis. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed or texted me expressing their concern and best wishes. My mother is recovering well from her surgery, but it is a good thing I went over there. She no longer has a car, so she needed me to take her to the grocery store, Walgreens, places like that, so she can get everything she needs for the next couple of weeks. Also, she can’t lift her arm above elbow height, so she needed me there to reset all the clocks on the walls to standard time.
It’s probably going to take me a day or two to catch up on everything… I have 70 unread e-mails that I need to sort through, plus messages on Facebook.