A high risk proposition

After grabbing a cup of coffee at the yuppie mega-corporate Seattle-based coffee powerhouse, I headed over to Mac's Smoke Shop for a Sunday Chronicle. On my way, I couldn't help but notice an unfamiliar homeless-looking man doing the toothless chomp so many of them seem to do. I walked past him and into Mac's. The place was empty except for two of the many colorful employees who work there. The old dude who always wears a funny top hat was there talking to his co-worker.

"Just a Chronicle, please," I said to the man with the top hat.

"That'll be a dollar sixty-two," he responded.

I gave him a $5 bill, and he gave me my change. "Don't forget to take your paper on the way out," he reminded me.

As I walked over to the stack of Chronicles, I heard the other employee talking to the man with the top hat. "By the way, your little friend isn't allowed in here anymore today," he said. "She just tried to borrow $5 from me."

"Oh really?" asked the man with the top hat.

At that point, I grabbed my paper, waked out the door and turned left toward my house. As I walked, I couldn't help but see the old man again who I had seen earlier. Then I noticed another old man a few yards away doing the same familiar toothless chomp. Seems like an inordinate number of older, derelict-like people are walking the block today. Maybe the old folks home has them out on a field trip.

As I got further down the street, I was approached by an older, possibly homeless woman with a walker. She asked me the now infamous line, "Can I borrow $5?"

Wondering when and where she might repay me, I declined her request.