Classic... ULYSSES E TAYLOR copyright 2013 all right reserved OLD MAN A couple of years ago I had a small business selling soul food in our small town. Everybody knew everybody so I thought business would be better than it was, but no one really showed support. When we first opened up, I sat in the shop for about a month hoping a customer would call or my family would stop by and grab something to eat. Well, they stopped by but free food was the motive. I tried to accommodate as best I could but they didn’t realize this was a business. I needed to sell food to stay afloat. MY lack of business sense and the fact that I was only loaned the money to start the business started to show in the deterioration of my unfortunate investment. One day a much older man passed by the shop and stopped, peering in through our huge glass front window. He saw me sitting behind the counter trying desperately how to figure out how to do my bookkeeping. I noticed him and my eyebrow rose at this ragged older homeless man. The expression on his face looked as if he was trying to decide if he wanted to come in. I really didn’t have to time to entertain this dude so I kind of gave him a look like “What” with my shoulders and everything. He walked in the shop, slowly about scared out of his mind but he made it to the counter. He asked for a dollar, staring into my eyes with the intensity of the hungriest man I have ever seen. My brain is going a thousand miles a minute so I didn’t fully put together in my mind what I was doing just sticking my hand in my pocket and giving the man the dollar. He turned away quickly and darted back out the door before I could change my mind I guess. I just laughed it off and continued with this crazy paperwork. The next day came as boring and as the one before it. I had some customers but not enough to do much. I was sitting outside on milk crate, racking my brain trying to figure out ways to pay these damn bills because the restaurant just wasn’t doing it. The old man walked up on me again this day, sits on the ground next to me and starts talking. It was a quick little 20 second chat session nothing special he was saying but it made me feel good when he got up and walked. He asked for a dollar of course and I automatically jammed my hand in my pocket and passed him the money as he shuffled off. This went on for about a month with each day him coming making the conversation slightly longer. Just general about the weather or politics, nothing personal so I didn’t know this man’s story and I didn’t want to judge. His departure everyday was a little more beneficial to him as it grew from a dollar to 2 I would pass to him. My business was going down the drain. I wasn’t making any money. I was borrowing to over debts, creating more debt. The next 6 months, things didn’t get any better. In fact it was made worse by the weather changing. Nobody really came and showed support for their brother, cousin , friend , homie and the business struggled. I couldn’t get enough people to come buy my food. I thought black people loved soul food..??!! It was awful I was eating food from my inventory at the restaurant because I couldn’t buy food at home. Bills and bills and bills. This old came every day though and sometimes I would give him food so it wouldn’t go bad in my kitchen along with 4 or five dollars. I figured what the hell we’ll be broke together. The least I could do was help this man eat. Another 6 months and my house was bare from me selling everything I could to pay the rent at the restaurant. I was praying things were going to get better but they never did. My head hurt everyday. My family never came to show the support or Love they claimed they had so much of for me and I ended up having to sell my house to pay off debt I was anticipating having to pay back when the end of the year was up. It was crazy. I couldn’t sleep and didn’t shave. I was way in over my head. The old man came around to visit me every day, listening to my pain and not really knowing what to say, I thought. He just sat silent listening intently or changed the subject. Right before I went out of business on his last night visiting I gave him my last 20 dollars. You see in my head even though I didn’t realize it I had lost my house, my business, my family but I still felt I was in a better position than he was even though our positions were the same. That last night I told him that was my last twenty dollars but not to worry about me take it and go eat. We were outside and I was closing the shop and shutting off the lights for the last time. I had faith in this little town. It let me down. The old man paused and his face lit up like he had an idea, and asked if I wanted to share something to eat. I was really hungry anyway, I hadn’t even ate anything so I said why not and accompanied the old man down the block and around the corner until we came to an alley. I followed him into the narrow alley until we came to a door on the building on our left. He takes out his keys and unlocked the door. He strides in apparently like it’s his apartment and leads me immediately into a kitchen. It was spotless and organized and he flicked on the light instructing me to close the door and my mouth. Apparently my jaw dropped. The kitchen was all white and nothing fancy but definitely a contrast to what I expected to see from this man. He told me to sit at the table he would be right back. He was gone about 10 minutes but he came back in the room carrying a black duffle bag when he did. He unzipped the duffle bag as he spoke making sure my eyes were locked on what he was about to show me. He spoke clearly “You made 2 investments last year one you didn’t know about and one you did. You invested in your friends and family by thinking they come and see you achieve and excel in you small business. It’s important you realize it doesn’t always work that way. Your second investment was in me. The dollars you gave me I saved and put them away for a reason. The food you would give me I sold to anybody I saw for half price. I wanted to see you succeed as much as you wanted to see me eat and be well. You see not all investments are good investments. “ By the time he finished talking he opened the duffle bag. I poked my head into the bag looking into and down at what looked like a mountain of cash. The shock was coupled when he told me how much it was. $10,387 dollars. I was speechless and couldn’t respond. He started talking again. “It’ a return on your investment. Knowing now what you didn’t know then. Try it again My brother, cousin, friend homie.”
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:27:17 +0000
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