Suzie’s House 419 : Ethan Spanging

“So how long have you been spanging?” A grizzled old man with stains on his jeans and shirt that Ethan didn’t want to think about.

“Spu… spu…. what?” Ethan didn’t know what to do with his eye. He glanced at the old man, then at the WalMart sign next to them, then at the stream of cars taking the turn out of the WalMart parking lot.

“Spanging. You know – asking for spare change. SpareChange. Spange. How long you been at it?”

Dan gave the man a sidelong look. Ten year’s growth of beard, hair cropped short like he was recovering from a bout with lice, grease stains on his plaid shirt; Ethan took the inventory then quickly looked away.

It was always better not to look too closely at these people. They had a way of trying to latch on to him. For some strange reason, most of the bums that Ethan had met since he himself had become one seemed to see him as a source of strength and inspiration. Or maybe they thought they could get some money out of him.

But he needed all the help he could get from such people, because Lord knew nobody else was giving him a hand. Or a hand out for that matter. He had been sitting next to the Walmart sign for a couple of hours now and so far not a single person had provided him with a single penny.

If he didn’t come up with something soon, not only would he be unable to pay bus fare home, he would be unable to provide himself with a place to stay tonight. Some food would be nice, too.

In the last few days he’d discovered that food was more of a priority than he had expected. Everyone knew you had to eat, and eat regularly. What he hadn’t known was how crazy he could feel when the bone-deep, gnawing hunger set in. He hadn’t expected his composure to unravel so thoroughly when the menacing feeling of starvation ran rampant.

Nor had he thought it would be so difficult to find food. He hadn’t eaten since the day before yesterday.

He had managed to hitch a ride here and there and had gotten as far as Des Moines. Ironically, if he’d simply continued to beg for rides he would probably have made it home. Instead, he’d stopped to look around for his son.

Of course there was no sign of the boy. The motel where Ethan had left his drunkard of a son didn’t remember anything about him. No one in the vicinity recognized his picture. The police had nothing on him. He’d simply vanished.

The guilt of what he’d done rode Ethan hard. He’d condemned his son to the same life that he now lived – penniless and alone.

His stomach growled. As much as he missed his wife Sophie and his daughter Emma, food had to come first.

“Hey. Buddy. I’m talking to you. Have you ever done this before?”

Ethan looked again. The man had a nice crinkle around clear eyes. Then to Ethan’s horror, he stuck a hand out, clearly demanding a shake. Despite his own intentions, Ethan clasped hands for a shake that went entirely too long.

“Name’s Dan. Dangerous Dan.” The old man smiled toothily. Well, at least he had teeth.

“Ethan.” Ethan’s kept it short and took his hand back as quickly as he could. He tried to be surreptitious about wiping it off. “This is my first time doing this.” He’d certainly seen enough people begging it at WalMart before, but he’d never been on the receiving end.

“What you need is to fly a sign.”

“A sign. Yeah.” He lifted the edge of the little piece of cardboard on which he’d written, “Trying to get home. Please help.”

“Yeah, that getting home business? Yeah, I’ve tried that before. It doesn’t go over very well. That’s not worth flying.”

“Yeah.” Ethan could hardly argue when it had done him so little good so far.

“Try something like this.” Dan gave his own piece of cardboard a jiggle. It said something about getting right with The Lord. “You need something like this, or maybe something funny. Then you’ll get plenty of kick downs. More than enough for a single bottle.” Dan winked and tried to nudge Ethan.

Ethan dodged. “I don’t need any bottles. I just need to get home.”

“You mean that sign’s for real?”

“Yes. I’m just trying to go home. Once I get there, everything will be fine.”

“Well, how did you end up here?” Dan leaned away from him and widened his eyes.

“That is a good question.”

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