For the "Decency" contest: The last trace of decency left in him

He was begging for spare change on the street corner.

Every now and then, a passer-by would stop and give him some money.

He would then check the money in his hand, and quickly put it in his pocket.

This wasn’t exactly the way to make a living that he had dreamed of when he was younger, but it was all that he could do right now, after missing all those opportunities that were offered to him earlier in life.

Beggar @ Petaling Street was originally uploaded to Flickr by Ariff Ahmad Tajuddin and is reused here under the terms and conditions of the CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

A smartly-dressed woman was coming his way, and when she noticed him, she made a move to open her bag.

As he stretched his hand out to her to take the money she gave to him, he looked at her more carefully.

Her face looked familiar.

He thought he knew her from somewhere, but where?

When their eyes met, she realized how intensely he was staring at her, which made her feel a bit worried and scared.

Thinking that the beggar was staring at her in a threatening manner, she immediately quickened here pace and walked away fast.

He didn’t say anything to her, and kept looking at her, as she walked away.

Then, in a flash, he remembered her.

He even remembered her name.

He was about to call her name, but then, he changed his mind.

What would he say to her?

He was a beggar, and she looked like a well-off career woman.

They had nothing in common to discuss.

Perhaps he could ask her for a job, but what kind of job?

In the eyes of other people, a beggar can only do one job… that is begging.

And then, at once, he felt that he lost the last trace of decency left in him.

Twenty years ago, he would never have imagined that the same girl that he fancied at college would see him at this state and wouldn’t even recognize him.

Come to think of it, though, it was probably a good thing that she hadn’t recognized him...