I am writing down my dreams, and this is a very recent one. This one I am having during a long car ride. This dream is about a homeless man, and a woman.
~ The Dream
I got an internship in London, my favourite place on earth. I am walking down a street, I believe I'm on my way to the travel agency, the one I am doing my internship at. It is pretty early, the sun has just come up. I am tired, so I decide to get some Starbucks to bring to work. When I am about to enter the coffee shop, I can see a man sitting on the ground a few blocks ahead. I walk in to the store, and keep thinking about the man. I got out of the store pretty fast; the lines where quite short. I am carrying two cups of coffee; one for me, and one for the man.
I am getting close, I can see him really well now. He looks really old, with a long beard and grey hair. He is wearing a suit, must be years old, there is al kinds of dirt on it.
"Would you like a coffee, sir?" I ask the man.
He looks up to me, with wide eyes, he looks so surprised. "Sir? Uh- yes, thank you very much, sweetheart!" The man says. He looks really happy now.
"May I sit down with you?" I ask. He gestures me to sit, so I do. I am not planning on asking how he ended up here, I feel like it's a rude thing to ask. Instead, I ask him about his week, and the man tells me a few things about his daily life.
"I found this beautiful cat a few months back. Such a sweetheart she was. She was homeless, like me, and the poor thing followed me around everywhere, even though I had nothing to offer her. I asked people for some spare money to feed the poor thing, but they all thought I was trying to get money for drugs and alcohol". The man says. "Anyway, she's been missing for a week now, and I never thought I'd miss something as stupid as a cat" He laughs, but it sounds really sad. I can see the tears in his eyes. The man changes the subject pretty fast, and I decide not to ask more about the cat. He tells me about the good in people, and how he knows that we all want to make a difference for the greater good, but that it is okay if you aren't capable of making those changes, that it is more important to just be happy with the things you actually can achieve. I think this man used to be a proffessor or something, or just a really wise man. He does seem a bit confused though, but I can tell he wasn't always like this.
"I do not own enough money to take you out shopping, or to give you a haircut, but I would like to do something. So, how about we get together every monday morning right here? I'll bring you a coffee, and you bring me your beautiful stories." I ask. The man is really excited, and tells me he's finally got something to look forward to, and so he accepts the offer.
"What is your name, if I may ask?"
"My name is Ben, short for Benedict, and it was lovely to meet you." Ben says.
And this is how Ben and I got together every monday morning.
4 months after our first talk, Ben passed away, and I went home a month after, back to my home country, studying, thinking about the wise old Ben every single day, and his story about the beautiful cat.