Dilemma at night

A Story by 7Stayed

Long poem of a moment at night

The man in uniform walks along the edge of the park, torch in hand
Due largely to the fact that it's night and
Dark as you like

While walking along the edge of the park, he sees a group of vandals near a tree
The tree's living and casting a long shadow of the group
The tree itself seemed weak, being abused by these vandals

However the man could not clearly see what the vandals were doing
The group were casually dressed, not smart in any meaning of the word
All of them facing the same direction, giggling mean spiritedly

The man knew them as regulars, always at the same tree
Nothing to prove what they're doing
He walked into the park silently

He switched on his torch, pointed it at the group and approached them
Seeing the light from the torch, the group quickly turned and ran
As fast as their legs would take them

They even giggle while running
They disappeared into the night
The man shone his torch around, searching for damage and finding none

Nothing unusual in that
He expected nothing
He turned around and looked at the bench

To his surprise there's a guy sitting on the bench
The man knew this to be unusual, for all the times he walked past this same park
He had never seen a guy on the bench before, alone no less

The man had certainly seen people making out in the park before at this time, but
Never anyone alone
He shone his torch at the bench

The guy raised an arm to shield his eyes
The man directed his torch elsewhere and then switched it off
For curiosity, he approached the bench

The guy on the bench, looking unshaven, looked up at the man
Wondering what he might want
The man looked down to the guy inquisitively

He said "You're new. What are you doing here, at this time?"
Guy simply answered "I've got nowhere else to go" with a rough, yet non aggressive tinge to his voice

Man said "So you're sleeping here?"
With honesty the guy said "Where else is there?"
What is the man to do?

Leave the guy alone? That would be against his duty
There is, of course, nothing to literally stop him from doing that
What else?

Take the guy in? Also against the man's duty
Follow his conscience? That would be the right thing to do
Move the guy on? It's within the man's duty, but it's highly unreasonable

Such is the dilemma