not as beautiful for some

Been couped up in the office quite a bit lately, but today it's beautiful outside -- perfect even. The sky is clear and blue, the temperature just right. I decided I'd better take advantage of this weather before our low ceiling of gray moves in for the next six months or so.

Bought a sandwich down at the market and went down to Victor Steinbrueck Park. The place is a strange mix, above and below, in that it's a grassy spread built atop an aging parking garage. The strangeness above has to do with the people. It's one of the only places in the city where you'll see families and tourists picnicking and sunbathing next to scatterings of homeless alcoholics and drug users. A juxtaposition of affluence and abjection.

And the most interesting thing: Everyone seems to get along just fine.

I finished most of my sandwich, but there were a few good bites left and I hadn't even touched the pickle or the little cup of pasta salad that came with it. As I closed up the to-go box, I noticed a woman walking around nearby. Thin body, drawn face, long gray hair, dirty clothes.

I'd seen her before. A couple of months ago, I saw her digging through the trash, picking out whatever food scraps she could. I'd walked over to her and given her my leftovers so she wouldn't have to dig anymore. She thanked me and I went back to work.

Here she was again. I don't know if she recognized me. Probably not. But she sat on a bench directly across from me and looked my way from time to time -- or more to the point, toward my box of lunch scraps. I set the box on the concrete beside me, knowing (or hoping) that as soon as I got up and left, she would claim it. Just as I was about to leave, however, a man came from behind me, grabbed the box and walked away, almost before I even knew what had happened.

I watched the man carry the box of half-eaten food across the grassy park to a spot beside a lone tree where he'd undoubtedly been watching for such an opportunity.

I got up to leave, looked at the woman. She looked at me and shrugged as if to suggest that I'd had the right idea. That there'd be other opportunities for her. And that the man by the tree needs to eat too.