Scary words from the man on the sidewalk

There was a man sitting on the sidewalk outside of my apartment building today.  I was walking home from the market, and as I crossed the intersection at Home Ave & California Ave (where a large stone Methodist church sits on the corner), I saw a man plunked down in the center of the walk, midway between the church and my apartment building.

I’ve seen my share of men sitting on sidewalks… in my 30+ years working in downtown Pittsburgh, I did plenty of shaking my head or turning away at the various men swathed in dirty blankets or trash bags, hunkered down against various buildings, usually with those dirty cardboard signs propped up in front of them. 

(I wasn’t always so heartless; my first couple years in the city I felt very fortunate to be in the position I was in, and would often fish out a dollar or some change.)  But over time, you begin to realize it’s always the same faces at the same spots, and when you become jaded to the bloodshot eyes and their cries “A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!”  there’s a fresh new crop of downtown worker bees guiltily tossing down their change.

But this wasn’t anything like that.  The man I was approaching looked very clean (other than needing a shave), around my age, maybe a couple years older. He was lean, had on faded jeans, brown shoes, a black & white flannel shirt untucked.  He was just… sitting there in the center of the walk.

As I got closer, I said “Sir.. you okay?”  He didn’t acknowledge me, just sat there cross-legged, staring into the empty street.  I said “Did you fall?  Are you waiting on somebody?”   Again, no answer. 

I was forced to step off the curb, walk in the street before getting back up on the walk.  When my back was to him, I heard “Got a cigarette?”  I turned and he was looking at me then.  I said sorry, no.  He shook his head and returned his gazing at the road.

As I approached the steps that go up into my apartment building, I saw Opal (who lives on my floor and spends her days reading in the lobby) standing there, holding a paperback in one hand and her smartphone in the other.  She said “What did he say to you?”  I told her he asked me for a cigarette.  She said “He’s been sitting there for a half-hour.  Should we call someone?”  I said yes, dial 911.  She did and told them, then nodded her head and turned her phone off.  She said “The police are on their way.”

When the police arrived just a few minutes later, 2 officers approached the man, both wearing face masks.  We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Sidewak Man seemed to be ignoring them.  When the shorter cop squatted down, the man shouted “I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YER SAYIN’ THRU THOSE THINGS!!”   The cop pulled down his mask and spoke to him.  Again, we couldn’t hear what the officer was saying.  Sidewalk Man did though, and yelled “THEN HAVE ME ADMITTED!”

The cop stood up, said something to his partner who returned to their car.  A few minutes later, he came back and the one cop squatted down again and spoke to Sidewalk Man.  And a few minutes after that, an EMERGENCY van arrived, lights flashing but silent, and 2 paramedics (both masked) joined the police.  They conferred for several minutes, then got on both sides of Sidewalk Man and lifted him gently to his feet and walked him to the ambulance’s sliding door.  Sidewalk Man hesitated getting in, then shouted “DOES ANYONE SEE WHATS HAPPENING!” and was quickly pulled up & inside, and the door slid shut.  I felt a weird shudder in my back & shoulders.

As the ambulance slowly drove away, the police car following, Opal didn’t say a word; she turned and headed back into our building, with me right behind.  One of the other residents in our building, Sue who lives on the first floor, was holding the door open for us.  She said “Scary times.”  I nodded my head in agreement.   I know I watch too many movies, but the way things played out reminded me of that final scene in the 1972 movie Soylent Green, set 50 years in the future in the year 2022, where Charlton Heston is being taken away by medics, and cries out Soylent Green is made from people. 

I always loved the opening titles to that film.  In that scary future, people were forced to wear masks when outside too.