The Outsiders

'Evening all. Tonight I'd like to talk about drifters. The people that you see aimlessly wandering the streets of your neighborhood. I'm sure there are many of you who never see anything like this in your neck of the woods, but it's a normal occurence in the area I live in. Not that I live in a slummy area or poor community it's just that there are a few people that I notice on a weekly basis, who walk the streets or hang out at bus depots. Their faces seem to want to tell a story. There are 3 people--all of them men--who stand out or come to mind while I'm typing this post. The first one, I'll call him Ralph being I don't actually know his name. Ralph is somewhat of an average-sized caucasian man standing around 5'10" tall. He looks to be in his mid 40's although he may be younger and just aging dramatically due to the way in which he lives. His hair is just touching his shoulders, thinning, baby fine and balding. He's not what you'd call an obese person but he does have a pretty big stomach--normally semi-hanging out from under his shirt. Really, his stomach is the only large part on him. He normally wears a T-shirt of some kind and a pair of jeans with white socks (not always clean) and tennis shoes. --I'd like to add that he's recently updated his apparel donning new tennis shoes and denim jeans--he's still sporting the same shirts though. Anyway, Ralph can be seen walking at any hour of the day or night. I swear this man walks more miles than I drive in a day; or so it seems. You're liable to see Ralph just about anywhere and of course the rumor mill is that he is alittle off in the brain and comes from a wealthy family but I'm not too sure about that. I do know that he loves to drink his soda. Just about everytime I see him, he has a large fountain soda from someplace or another in his hand. I often wonder what a day in his life is like. What he does all day, where he comes from, what brought him to this point in his life....
The next individual --I refer to him as bobble-head. Okay, I know what you're thinking...not very nice, right? Well, the only reason I refer to him like that is because when he walks, he has a tendancy to sway his head from shoulder to shoulder while keeping his face facing forward in the direction he's walking in.(just reminds me of a bobble head) So, as I was saying, Bobble-head is caucasian with light brown hair--thick and coarse-like but balding and short cut to his earlobes. He's about 5' 6" tall and has a medium build. He looks to be about in his mid to late 30's--again, I'm not sure. His clothes are much neater and he seems to be rather clean. He too wears bluejeans and shirts(polo shirts) and his tennis shoes are always clean. I don't know really if he qualifies as being a "drifter" but he walks everywhere. Just as Ralph does, Bobble-head always has a soda in his hand. I didn't mention this earlier but Ralph has a steady-slow off beat walk. Bobble-head, on the other hand, has a fast-paced brisk walk. Every step is right on time--and that heads -a-swayin'. He also has the nerve to switch. Yea, he switches his butt as he walks guys...I'm just wonderin'....Not that it matters, it's just an observation. Although I don't seem to see him walking quite as often as I do Ralph, I do notice that he travels long distances. He may be using public transportation--I'm not sure but there have been instances where I could be 30 or more miles away from where I normally see him walking and I happen to see him casually walking, swayin' and switchin'. He seems to be a carefree guy always wearing a slight grin or smile on his face. Ralph seems to be more serious-looking, only smiling on occasion. I often wonder what's on bobble-heads' mind that causes him to smile all the time. It may just be a part of his demeanor, the way he carries himself, I guess....
The last individual is an older gentleman. I'll call him Zeke. Actually, I just noticed Zeke about 2 months ago. He normally hangs around convenience store parking lots. He just sits. I never see him walking. He just sits and drinks what looks to be either coffee or soda. I'm not sure but that's about all he ever does all day and night. He's also caucasian with white-gray hair and whiskers on his face.I'm not sure about his height being that I only see him sitting all the time. He looks like he's about 60 years old.(may be older) He wears worn out jeans and a red flannel shirt or jacket. I don't remember what kind of shoes he wears. I noticed him sitting for several days in the same spot and then I wouldn't see him for about 4 or 5 days, and then he would appear again. I haven't seen him now for about a week. I wonder what happened in his life. His eyes seem so very deep in thought. I bet he's seen alot in his life......

These 3 men, whom I'm not sure have ever met or know each other, share a common dismal life on the streets of my neighborhood. It seems to me to be a hard life, but who's to say? This may very well be what they want to do with themselves. I can't speak for them. I just can't help but wonder if this is how they've lived their whole lives. I wonder what their upbringing was really like. I guess I'll never know.
These 3 men are not the only people or "drifters" I've noticed. There are many more, especially around the bus depots. As time goes on I'm beginning to notice more and more people outside.--And winter's coming......makes me sad.

This is proof of what is happening to our world. The economy, the classes(no middle class anymore) the masses--our society, people on the street--it shouldn't be like this...future's not lookin' too bright anymore. Take off your shades GWB.......