A quick story from the mean streets of Portland …
I have received solicitations in Portland from strangers seeking money for food, booze, and prostitutes. I usually reject their requests and they leave me alone. On the rare occasions I have forked over a quarter or two the beggar thanked me and without fail said “bless you” in a humble Judeo-Christian fashion – a blog topic for another day.
Last night as I left the El-P show a man with scraggly, long hair and a dust cloud reminiscent of Pigpen of Charlie Brown fame practically swirling around his being approached me with a new type of request presumably meant to shock and gag a dollar out of my pocket.
“Hey buddy, my girlfriend’s on her period and we don’t have money for tampons,” he shared, while standing in the shadows of a storefront on Hawthorne Avenue. “Can you spare some change?”
Maybe his girlfriend desperately needed a tampon. Maybe she needed a bloody drink (couldn’t resist). I was not in the mood to peer into his soul or stare in the direction of her monthly joy.
“Sorry,” I answered in customary fashion. Before I walked out of earshot I heard him repeating the line to a newcomer, presumably to similar results. At some point, I imagine a do-gooder, or maybe even a drunk, reached into their wallet and effectively stopped the couple’s bleeding. One can only hope.
It’s one thing to beg for food or booze. But tampons? How much can one man’s ego stand?
