The Bum

He looked like a cross between Grandad and Twenty yet still I stopped when he flagged me down. He toddled slowly around the car to the passenger side and sat down beside me.
As he sat a bottle fell out of his filthy anorak , I reacted quickly and grabbed it, thankfully it was sealed, it was a Coke bottle containing a red liquid. "Thanks", he said "Beaumont Hospital please , the powerful whiff of whiskey and cigarettes nearly knocked me out, confirming my suspicions re the contents of the Coke bottle.
I immediately wrote off the fare, this guy was bumming a lift to the hospital, to doss down in the A+E department, (ER if you're Stateside). It'd be interesting though to see his method, he wasn't about to do a runner, nor was he very threatening, I reckoned he'd just say he had no money, knowing there was little I could do about it.
Suddenly he seemed to have a seizure, he was moaning loudly and banging his sides and his stomach with his hands. I pulled in quickly to see if he was OK.
"I've lost me Sandwich" , he cried, "I've lost me sandwich". This continued for the rest of the journey, it seemed the loss of the sandwich was equivalent to his world ending.
When we got to the entrance of the hospital he asked to be taken to A+E, confirming my earlier assumptions. When we arrived he opened the door and I thought " What the hell , no harm in trying," "That'll be €13 please".
"Me Sister works here, she'll be out to you in a second with it".... and off he went.
"Classic", I thought, "Ah well fair play to him, at least I got a blog post out of it"
I had to drive about 50m along the ramp to do a U-Turn and as I passed the A+E I decided to park up and see if I could find him.
Alas he was nowhere to be found. Shame, I wanted to give him a fiver for a sandwich......I must be getting soft.

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