A most unlikely friendship
There was this very old man who walked miles collecting cans. One day I asked him if he wanted mine and he gave me his address. A few days later I dropped them off at his tiny rental. We got to talking and became friends and soon I was taking him to the recycling station because I had a truck and he had no vehicle.
In his little place, although very clean and organized, were piles of copper, marble, newspaper, etc. all of which he recycled for money by trash-picking.
This went on for a number of years and one day he asked me to come over to his place, he had something for me. Well, he always had things for me…chocolates thrown out from a store, a piece of marble from a trophy, etc. But this day he had a gleam in his eyes as he held out his hand to me. He gave me a diamond ring that he had found in the street, it had been run over by a car and was flattened. I insisted he take it somewhere and get it fixed and appraised but he said “NO, I want you to have it for all the help you have given me over the years”. It was worth a lot of money.
We had a special friendship as he had no family nearby. I was with him in the hospital when he had to have his foot amputated due to gangrene and it was such a sad day. This man walked for a living and now he couldn’t.
After he recovered, he moved to Florida where his family was and I never saw nor heard from him again. I think of my wonderful friend Al with fondness as he was such a blessed and generous man. Now I am crying as I write this. – Victoria ♥