Pickles and Starbursts

It was cold. The wind was blowing and I didn't have a warm jacket. The wind blew harder here, it seemed, because of how big this intersection is.  As I stood on Randolf and State street in Chicago, facing the intersection, I wondered why torturing myself with the cold was a better idea than staying in the warm tea shop.  But then again, asking myself why I do most things I do is a battle I am not prepared to be champion of.  A man with long gray hair stood, facing the center of the intersection, held his arms up, as if reaching for heaven, and preached to the everybody. "Repent!" He screamed.  No one payed him any attention. I was just glad he wasn't talking to me.  I'd seen him before over on Michigan Avenue doing the same thing and actually, wearing the same thing. Which is weird because he was still, now, wearing a big t-shirt and slacks in the dead, freezing winter and he remained untouched by the bitter cold.  I stood motionless, facing him, going through everything I had in my pockets, curling up like a caterpillar, trying to stay warm.  To my right, a homeless man sat on the ground, leaning against a power box.  He is always there and every time I see him I am surprised to see he is actually still alive. He shakes a cup for change.  I was still digging my hands in my pockets and noticed a man on my left who kept looking at me as if he needed me to know something.  He'd look away and then back at me. His face said he cared about a young, homeless man like me.  Either that or, or he was losing a fruitless battle with the cold night.  He didn't look at me though, and say, "boy, what a fruitless night, eh?" He turned my way as if to give me some money or words of encouragement the same time the loud preaching man finally took a break, turned around as well and walked towards me.  In the same moment both men were coming towards me, I found what I was fumbling for in my pocket for the last few moments. Through all the loose change I always have and my keys, the starburst candy I wanted was finally in my grasp.  The preacher was smiling in my direction and coming at me.  It only made me unwrap that artificial lemon flavored square of sunshine juice even faster to get out of the pickle I was in. After jumping out of that man-triangle, I shuffled back into the warm tea shop where someone had all the free cookies I could stuff in my face.