He's dead...Now get in the van * * * Standing on the corner of Howard and Mission waiting for the light to change. Casually I notice a homeless man laying on the corner opposite of me, motionless. Suddenly I become aware of a man standing next to me talking on his cell phone. "He's not moving. I tried to wake him up but he didn't even move. I don't think he's breathing." The light changes and I cross the street. In only a few short strides I'm standing with a couple of other folks next to what may well be a corpse. One of the people next to me is calling 911 on his cell phone as well while a woman scream at the prone sack of flesh and bones. "HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME!" As the last of a gathering crowd I decide it's safe to move on. Of course I can't go too far lest I miss the end of the uproar. We're a couple of blocks from a firestation, but it isn't until several minutes pass before a cop car pulls up and a middle aged officer steps out of his car. Since he missed the yelling of the woman he repeats her experiment. "HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?" After no movement from the homeless man the officer decides it's time to escalate matters with some light poking of his baton. After a few well placed prods (kidney damage provided free of charge) the man stirs. He looks around in a drunken fog that can only be had by those who have given up hope before going right back to sleep (or would that be right back to passed out?) The officer gives him another dutiful poke with the baton and makes it clear that this drain on humanity is free to pass out as long as he does it somewhere that won't disturb the general populace. Knowing that everything is ok (relatively speaking) I decide it's about time to get back to work. I arrive at my meeting about 15 minutes late, but boy do I have a good excuse.
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