Jeremy Willis: The Hobo

How Jeremy Willis came to be a "professional" hobo and why he did so.

             The concrete sidewalk had managed to soak up all of 110 degrees of afternoon, windless heat. Nerves were on edge and the little homeless girl was scaring off customers. Jeremy Willis wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his left hand. His heavy black book bag hung on one shoulder, as he sweated in the bloated, thick air. His college classes had taken all he had left in him, with the debate that he lost and the tests that he was sure he had failed, for the night before he'd stayed up far too late studying and so had spent half of the allotted time trying to stay awake. His black suit only made the heat worse and he was filled with angry remorse at the sun. The 3:00 bus was on its way, so he headed for the bus stop and was only a few feet away from the empty benches when his eyes drifted to the homeless girl, perhaps no older than 5 years old. She skipped and wandered between the alleyways, but passersby avoided where she was; meaning the stores she stood near. He saw her every day, with the great black smudges smeared across her face as if she'd been playing in the sewer and her long, tangled, dark brown hair was clumped with grease. Her clothes clung to her, but with all of this dirtiness in her appearance there was beauty hidden within her giant almond eyes. They were watery and had a strange sense of something… different. 

Jeremy continued on and sat in the dirtied benches that had, no doubt, a collection of chewed gum stuck on the bottom. The worn bench creaked as he slumped into it, leaning on the plastic divider behind the bench. Tattered flyers were stuck to the sides of the clear bus stop walls, advertising for various shops and entertainment that was linked to the rest of the university. He peeked over his shoulder again to see the little girl. He took off his book bag, pulled it open and took out a thick novel. He really loved to read, and would have continued doing so if it weren't for the raucous group now gathering behind him. He peeked over his shoulder again to see that the girl had been seized and shop owners were accusing her of treacherous deeds. She looked very calm and passive. He tried to go back to reading, but it was too distracting. Instead, his attention wandered and he ended up listening to one woman exclaiming,

          "This street rat was attempting to steal candy from my convenience store!" 

A man's voice responded, "She's just no good, she's been scaring my customers away!" The voices went on, bouncing from person to person,

          "She's so dirty!"

          "Look at her, where are her parents?"

          "She pilfered from my shop!"

          "Her parents probably stopped caring because she's a trouble child." 

There was a man's voice that Jeremy supposed was a police officer's and he asked, "What's the problem here?" The shouting stopped and it was dead silent. The police officer had heard some of the accusations and Jeremy heard the footsteps of the man approaching the little girl who had been thrust to the floor in chaos. Jeremy kept peeking behind his shoulder every time his curiosity took over. The officer asked the little girl,

          "Are these things they say true, little lady?" 

The girl gave him an annoyed look as if it was obvious and said, "I have a right to silence, sir. I don't have to tell anyone anything. It's my own life I do believe."

          "So you didn't do any of this?"

          "Again, it's my own life. It's my own business." 

The police officer did not look happy and ruffled his hair a little before asking again in a gruffer voice, "Did you or didn't you?"

          "Sir, I don't find that I need to justify actions that a group of people insulting my appearance have claimed I've done. I've done nothing unnecessarily and I don't do anything just for fun." 

One of the store keepers lost their temper and struck her cheek, saying,

          "You shouldn't speak to adults like that, you filthy girl!" 

The police officer was making confused faces; he obviously didn't know how to handle this so he said, "Alright, every one go back to their own business! Leave this girl be!" Then he lowered his voice to speak to the little girl and Jeremy had to listen harder to hear the gentler words,

          "Where are your parents?" 

The girl hesitated and then said, "They're… they're at home." 

          "Are you lost?" The police officer asked. 

Jeremy snuck another peek but turned back around immediately when he saw the girl interestedly staring back at him. She had shaken her head. The officer then said,

          "You should go home. I don't think people take kindly to you around here. And if you were causing trouble I suggest that you don't try it again. They all have very short tempers around here." The little girl said a confident,

          "Yes, sir," sounding sarcastic. The man left the girl then and Jeremy could hear footsteps, trying to look like he was enjoying his book, pulling it a little closer. He saw from under his book that the girl was wearing giant black rain boots that squeaked as she stepped in front of him. She was wearing green and white striped stockings that went past her knees, where a light blue layered skirt started. That was all he could see from under his book without looking like he wasn't reading it at all. The girl tapped on his head, startling him from his inspection. He jumped and raised his head from the book to look at her. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt that had some band name on it. Around her neck was a beautifully crafted cross necklace that looked as though it might even have a diamond in the center. The girl was smirking at him as though she knew something he didn't. Annoyance peeked around the corners of Jeremy's mind and he asked,

          "Can I help you?" 

She just raised her eyebrows as if he'd made some smart remark. She replied, paying no attention to what he'd asked, "What'cha doin'?" Her hands were behind her back and she leaned forward to look at his book which he had closed a little. He replied this time in a mockingly obnoxious tone of voice,

          "Readin'" 

The little girl lowered her eyes if only for a second and remarked a quiet, "Oh." She then plopped herself next to him, apparently planning for a long talk. She continued her thought, "I haven't learned how to do that."

He didn't know what to say, so all that he said was, "I'm sorry." 

She shook her head and happily carried the conversation on, "So do you like college?" 

Only slightly creepy, he thought, and he answered, "Um… it's ok." 

          "You sure?" 

          "Yeah? Why are you asking?"

          "Well, you seem really stressed out today."

          "Are you some sort of stalker?"

          "Whazzat?" She cocked her head to one side innocently. He chuckled a little and then it increased until he couldn't stop and his eyes were filled with tears. She looked really concerned when he finally calmed down enough to look at her again. She asked,

          "Are you okay?" 

He sniffled and wiped the tears away. He felt as though there was something stuck in his throat now and said, "Why do you care?" 

She sat up a little straighter as though trying to match his height and said, "Well, I like to think of us as friends." 

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think if he'd ever spoken to this child before. No, he couldn't remember ever hearing her voice before. He had to make sure he'd heard it right, "…What?" 

She nodded and said, "Well, it makes sense doesn't it? You're the only person who's never been mean to me that I see every day. That automatically makes us friends."

          "I've never spoken to you before!" 

She scrunched her face up, saying a little edgily, "Well I thought it made sense!" She turned to stare at a flyer, picking at its curling edges.  Jeremy turned to her, taking a deep breath and putting his book away. He put out his hand and said,

          "I'm Jeremy." 

She slowly turned her face back and then shook his hand with gusto, a broad grin spreading across her face. She said back, "I call myself Jessie.  You may do the same." 

They let go and he said, "There, now we're friends." 

She nodded, "Good. So now can I ask what's bothering you?"

          "Why do you want to know so badly?"

          "Why not? I've got nothing better to do."

          "You don't have anyone to get home to?"

          "Nnnope!" Her eyebrows were raised and she wore a friendly grin, her eyes were expectant and he couldn't leave her hanging. He put it simply at first,

          "I'm just not having a very good day."

          "Well, psh!  I could tell thatmuch! Why is it a bad day?" He took a moment to recompose himself, almost bursting out in laughter again at her carefree attitude. He wished he had one of those. He answered with a question this time,

          "Jessie, do you ever wonder about your future, or wonder why you're not happy when you've almost reached your dream?" 

She looked up for a moment, searching for an answer, and then said, "Mmm, yes to the future one and no to the dream thing. I've never really worried about dreams. I just live my life. I actually gave up on worrying about my future a little while ago. But you didn't answer my question." 

Jeremy left her for his own thoughts for what felt like a long moment. He looked down at his rich brown hands and she gasped, then grasping his hands, looking up into his eyes and whispering,

          "Are you having second thoughts?"

          "How do you mean?"

          "About the dream you were talking about, the one that you had almost reached." 

          "Yeah, I guess I am." 

          "What is your dream?" They were still making eye contact and their faces were fairly close. Jeremy drew back, realizing how awkward that was. She was still grasping his hands very hard and he said,

          "To become a doctor and help people." 

          "Which part don't you like?"

          "I guess it's the doctor thing, but the two are connected so the other one is bad too."

          "Well, who's to say that those aren't two completely different dreams?" He let out a sigh, and said,

          "You're right, but I can't just let go of the doctor thing, what else am I supposed to do so that I can help people?" 

She looked up again and tapped her chin, humming a short song and then looked back down and said, "Well, there are plenty of things. But the one that I know the best is living on the streets."

          "How does that help anyone?"

          "Am I helping you?" 

Jeremy stopped for a moment, realizing he'd walked right into that one and said,

          "Oh no… I couldn't live on the streets!  My family would disown me. I have to finish college."

          "Then finish college and don't get a job." 

          "That would be such a waste of time!"

          "Not necessarily." He just sat there staring back at her in confusion and she said,

"I can tell that you want to change the subject. Just keep that in mind alright?" He nodded slowly and asked, "Why are you still holding onto my hands?" 

          "You needed comforting and didn't look like the kind of person for a hug." 

          "Oh." They sat like that for a moment in rather awkward silence, her just holding onto his hands. She finally said to break the silence,

          "Your hands remind me of chocolate."

          "Okay…?" She looked curious, then raising his hands up to her nose and sniffing them. She looked back up at him with the widest eyes he had ever seen.

          "They smell like chocolate!" She exclaimed. He chuckled at her and they parted hands so that he could smell them. They didn't smell like chocolate. They smelled like paper and led. He grabbed her hands and sniffed them. 

          "Yours smell like chocolate, not mine." She sniffed her own hands and let out a high cackle, saying,

          "Oh… I forgot that I had chocolate today." They laughed for a few moments until the bus arrived. He felt a little sad that he was leaving her but he waved and just as the bus doors closed, he heard her yell after him,

          "See ya tomorrow, chocolate man!"

Author's Note

It definitely needs revision help, I'm open to suggestions! I've rewritten a bit of it, rearranged some things, tell me if it's any better! ^^ (edited june 16th) I think it's good enough finished off like this, I don't know what everyone else thinks about it. Is it good enough that you can sort of tell where he's going to go with his life from the conversations?

Reviews

[Kaye]

The revision really helped this story a ton! =OOO You made the beginning, really almost perfect. ^^ Everything flows together nicely and makes much more sense. The beginning certain doesn't need much, if any work done on it at all anymore! =D
I noticed you really didn't change the ending much at all. The flow of the ending was a little shakier than the beginning, which is undoubtably because the beginning is so good. For some reason the whole chocolate thing, although incredibly cute, doesn't make too terribly much sense to me. Maybe after Jessie says his hands remind her of chocolate you could describe them so it's easier to see what about them reminds her of chocolate?

All and all it's really great now! =D

[pdc]

So you say - or would imply - your destination unknown as you would have us believe you know not where to go from here. When to go from here is as plain as your final line - as clear as the scarecrow who would point you the correct way.

See ya tomorrow chocalate man - wait for me please.

I like this piece Sapphire - I like your final sentence most of all.

pdc