Today I saw a woman in a wheelchair begging for money on the subway.

I was sitting next to a mexican laborer. He was dirty, in a t-shirt, with plaster on his hands and dirt under his fingernails.

He gives the woman a dollar. It was a crisp, new bill with a small corner missing.

She got angry and asked for a different one.

And they say beggars can’t be choosers??

Then I was sitting on the bus going to Golden Gate Park for a blue grass festival.

The woman beside me had no front teeth and drank almost a fifth of vodka in 40 minutes.

The man across from me shook his head and the children all laughed.

She kept talking about the dictionary and how fun it was to read. “Electroencephalitis: E-L-E-C-T-R-O-E-N-C-E-P-H-A-L-I-T-I-S.” Her spelling was eclipsed only by her prowess as a drinker.

Everyone was trying to ignore her. “The dictionary is great, just great. It can tell you the meaning of everything,” she professed while trying to sneak a sip of vodka.

I wish. Can it tell me the meaning of a toothless woman drinking a fifth of vodka in 40 minutes??

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