THIS IS A TRUE STORY
A while ago, when I was a young twenty
five year old, I trekked across the United States via Greyhound
bus on an uncharted photo journey. During this trip, I ended up
in Seattle where I met Laddie McCrea. Laddie, you see, was a
hobo. He was about 60 - 70 years old and looked 100. Laddie had
shoulder length scraggly white hair entangled with weeds from the
previous nights bedding. His clothes were a living journal of
evenings in the shrubs and days in the sun. Laddie smelled of
alcohol and urine. When I first met Laddie, he was standing on a
busy downtown Seattle sidewalk greeting every passerby with a
smile, a pleasant greeting and an extended palm. Each day,
society was rushing past Laddie -- either unaware of his
existence or avoiding him -- a smelly, begging bum. I found
Laddie to be an excellent character for my photo excursion, so I
paid him to allow me to stand in the background and film him. I
spent three days, hidden in the masses, photographing Laddie.
Most of the time he was unaware of my existence. Each day he
stood in a busy section of town greeting the world with a smile
an uplifting phrase and an extended palm -- just earning enough
change for the evening's night cap. One special day, as I
observed from a bench off in the distance, a young girl, around
six or seven, prim and proper with a pretty dress and hair in a
tail. She approached Laddie from behind and tugged on his shirt.
Laddie turned to the girl who then reached up and handed him
something. At that, Laddie, in animated fashion, showed his
happiness and reached in his pocket and gave her something and
the girl ran back to her parents excitedly showing them what she
had received. I was so curious about the exchange that I was
dying to go immediately to Laddie and ask him what took place,
but in order to get candid photos, I knew I couldn't make my
presence known. Later that afternoon when I finished my shoot, I
spent some time with Laddie and brought up the event. Here's what
Laddie said: "The little girl came to me and gave me a
quarter, so I gave her two quarters in return because I wanted to
show her that when you are generous, you will receive more than
you give." -- Mike Kleinman
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