the little things -- just another day in NYC
So it was Thursday afternoon, rush hour, and I was in lower Manhattan, at the corner of Fulton Street and Broadway.
That's a very busy corner, even in the best of times. Right now there's a construction project on that corner, and some of the lanes on Broadway are closed. One of the construction workers helps direct traffic so that pedestrians can get across Broadway.
As I came up Fulton towards Broadway I could see a small crowd gathered across the street, on the corner in front of St. Paul's. A woman was lying on the sidewalk, right at the curb. A man was moving construction cones to that corner, to keep the traffic away from the curb where she was lying. Several people were on their cell phones. Just as I was wondering if someone called 911, a police officer walked up from behind me to cross the street.
The police officer helped the woman to sit up, and I heard someone say "She has a bump on her head from when she fell."
And then I noticed something unusual.
Up against the church fence there was a backpack, a sweater, a cardboard sing and a hat, clearly the property of a panhandler, all scattered as if their owner had jumped up in a hurry ... yes, the panhandler was one for the first people to rush to help the woman who had fallen.
That's a very busy corner, even in the best of times. Right now there's a construction project on that corner, and some of the lanes on Broadway are closed. One of the construction workers helps direct traffic so that pedestrians can get across Broadway.
As I came up Fulton towards Broadway I could see a small crowd gathered across the street, on the corner in front of St. Paul's. A woman was lying on the sidewalk, right at the curb. A man was moving construction cones to that corner, to keep the traffic away from the curb where she was lying. Several people were on their cell phones. Just as I was wondering if someone called 911, a police officer walked up from behind me to cross the street.
The police officer helped the woman to sit up, and I heard someone say "She has a bump on her head from when she fell."
And then I noticed something unusual.
Up against the church fence there was a backpack, a sweater, a cardboard sing and a hat, clearly the property of a panhandler, all scattered as if their owner had jumped up in a hurry ... yes, the panhandler was one for the first people to rush to help the woman who had fallen.
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