I was approached by a homeless man last night who asked me to do a little role playing with him. I had been standing outside with my BF during his work break when I noticed a man walking up the street towards us, attempting to talk with other walking pedestrians who would sway to the other side and brisky walk past him. As he came towards us, he stopped and stared. Then a big smile took over his face as he shook his head a little and looked down at the ground mumbling, “Ah…young lovebirds…to be young and in love”. He then took a few steps closer and asked, “May I have permission to come closer?” Confused, my BF and I nodded our heads in approval and allowed the friendly stranger to enter our comfort bubble. He then asked if he could say something (it ended up being a story).

He said, “a love like yours…aint no one gonna take that away from you…aint no one gonna say NO.” Then he said, “hold up, hold up. I want you guys to do something for me. You (pointing to my BF) are me for a second, and you (pointing to me) are…well, you”. The man then said, “now, I love you, and you love me. Do you know what this means? It means I take your hand, get down on my knees and say, ‘Cynthia, I want you to be my wife’.” He actually took my hand and got down on his knees on the sidewalk and reinacted his proposal to his, now deceased, wife. He then said, “And you wanna know what her response was? ‘WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO ASK’ is what she said to me”. He continued, “you wanna know the greatest part of it all?” The BF and I gave the deer-in-headlights look, as if to say, please continue. He said, “I made her a United States citizen and aint no one gonna take that away from her because that was my gift to her. That was the gift of love.” He mentioned he was in the Vietnam War and had met this beautiful Chinese woman 20 years his senior, but despite the age difference, they fell in love and got married. He said when he came back to the states and introduced his wife to his parents, their response was “What the hell is that? (referring to her being Chinese)”. He was of African American descent, and from the way he told his story, it was pretty obvious his parents did not approve of his choice in bride.

He then continued about how everything was wonderful and great until they had children (7 to be exact).  He said, “children…those things can be such trouble”. He was saying how they were still very much in love, but everything was different because of the kids. Haha. Then the man kind of abruptly ended his story saying how, “my wife gave me 7 kids, and now, god rest her soul, I have buried her at the age of 85. She died of cancer.” There was no really no transition, so the BF and I were slightly taken aback. But to end his story, he looked at me and my BF and said again, “Aint no one gonna take away the love you two share…nobody.” We thanked him for his touching story, and he continued on his way down the street, mumbling incoherent nothings under his breath.

After he left, I couldn’t stop smiling. For someone who’s homeless and has nothing, his story-telling skills were incredibly passionate and heartfelt. Who knows if his story was even true, but either way, it made my night. Thank you, homeless man on Cambridge Street.

Please note: the quotations from this man are not verbatim, but they’re pretty close to everything he was saying.