Lil Brother
New member
Somewhere around 3 years ago, Carol and I both worked together at St Josephs Regional Medical Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was then that we both seemed to notice a homeless man sitting on different benches with a somewhat dazed look on his face. He had long scraggly brown hair, wore a brown jacket year round and always had a cigar in his mouth. Sometimes he would have a cup of coffee beside him or else a carton of milk 1/2 gallon size. If he wasnt sitting on one of a couple of benches, we'd see him walking down Central Avenue holding 2 or 3 plastic bags with a blank stare on his face.
We started noticing Benchman at the same time of day everyday sitting on one of "his" benches. You could dang near set your watch by him. Even though Carol and I both knew that he could "just be down" at this time in his life, in our hearts, we knew he truly had a problem. We even laughed at his expense alot making jokes about him. We weren't trying to be mean really, but he began to pop up at the strangest times. After 2 or 3 months of seeing him most everyday, we would worry when we didnt see him for a day or two. He would always be on the corner of Grand and Central around 6:00am every day.
Months rolled by and Carol and I would always question ourselves as to why we didn't stop and talk to him and maybe even helping him out with a free meal or something. We would never give him money, we told ourselves, but might possibly buy his lunch if we ever saw him in a restaurant. Actually, we did see him in Wendys one night, but he bought himself a large chile, hamburger and an order of fries while we were eating and he had already paid for it before we saw him.
We never saw him beg---ever! He always seemed to have cigars and usually a Wendys cup of coffee. Maybe he receive a disability ck of some type. As time went on, Benchman became more and more intriguing to us. We sort of wondered what his past was like. He could of been a miser for all we knew. Maybe he was some super-rich millionaire. Benchman was not a people oriented person---we could just tell. One day a year or so ago, we past Benchman to see that he had gotten his hair cut. He even looked like he could be a "normal person" and hold a "normal job" if he wanted. I guess that was the last haircut hes had. Carol and I wonder what the story was behind that one. Did someone pass him one day and throw him a $20 bill out the window.What happened?
Yesterday I was coming home from an early morning metal detecting adventure with my brother when I passed a man on the side of highway 70 pushing a shopping cart with all of his worldly possessions inside when I glanced over and looked him in the eye for a split second. I could tell that in that short time, he recognized me and might even be wondering to himself, "how am I doing"? I knew it was weird to see him on that particular highway, but really didnt think about it for long.
I told Carol the story when I saw her and commented that I thought it was Benchman. Well, last night around 11:30pm we were coming home when Carol called my attention to a brown dog laying at the head of Ten Mile Road. As we approached, we could see it more clearly. It was Benchman with his shopping cart at the head of our road. He was laying down in the street and only raised his head when my headlights hit him. Immediately Carol screamed, "Its Benchman"! Now, what does a person do? We are not too sure that he wouldnt cut our livers out if he had the chance, so we didnt stop. We got home so I called the Sheriffs Office.
The dispatcher told me that someone else had made a call to them too, and that thay had someone on their way out. Carol and I were watching TV and eating cheese dip when we kept asking each other about"Well, was he hurt...was he seriously wounded....is he psycho as he looks? After 45 minutes of Jerry Springer, we decided to jump in the truck and see if the sheriff had come yet. After getting to the head of the road we noticed that he was gone. So was his shopping cart. I drove across the street to the local grocery store looking for the shopping cart. It wasnt there either. I knew that if the sheriff picked him up,(for his own good!), that he would leave the cart.
I pulled on to Highway 70 and traveled maybe another mile before we saw the cart. Beside the shopping cart was Benchman laying on the edge of the highway! This time it was Carols turn to call the sheriff. She is such a good communicator, she probably talked to the dispatcher ten minutes. The dispatcher wasnt sure if they had any one on the way yet, but informed us she would give them an update on his location. After knowing that we need about all we could do, we went to bed. We both included him in our prayers.
This morning Carol and I headed in to town expecting to see him on the road either sleeping or dead. We never did see him or his shopping cart so we are assuming that he is still in possession of his stuff pushing his shopping cart down some highway. We wonder if we will ever see him again. Is he going South for the winter to stay in one of his other condos or did the sheriff pick him up and take him for a mental evaluation?
Carol and I have never met Benchman, but we both feel as if we know him. We care about him and will miss him.
This was a true story. It makes me thankful for what I DO have!
Thanks for listening,
Lil Brother
We started noticing Benchman at the same time of day everyday sitting on one of "his" benches. You could dang near set your watch by him. Even though Carol and I both knew that he could "just be down" at this time in his life, in our hearts, we knew he truly had a problem. We even laughed at his expense alot making jokes about him. We weren't trying to be mean really, but he began to pop up at the strangest times. After 2 or 3 months of seeing him most everyday, we would worry when we didnt see him for a day or two. He would always be on the corner of Grand and Central around 6:00am every day.
Months rolled by and Carol and I would always question ourselves as to why we didn't stop and talk to him and maybe even helping him out with a free meal or something. We would never give him money, we told ourselves, but might possibly buy his lunch if we ever saw him in a restaurant. Actually, we did see him in Wendys one night, but he bought himself a large chile, hamburger and an order of fries while we were eating and he had already paid for it before we saw him.
We never saw him beg---ever! He always seemed to have cigars and usually a Wendys cup of coffee. Maybe he receive a disability ck of some type. As time went on, Benchman became more and more intriguing to us. We sort of wondered what his past was like. He could of been a miser for all we knew. Maybe he was some super-rich millionaire. Benchman was not a people oriented person---we could just tell. One day a year or so ago, we past Benchman to see that he had gotten his hair cut. He even looked like he could be a "normal person" and hold a "normal job" if he wanted. I guess that was the last haircut hes had. Carol and I wonder what the story was behind that one. Did someone pass him one day and throw him a $20 bill out the window.What happened?
Yesterday I was coming home from an early morning metal detecting adventure with my brother when I passed a man on the side of highway 70 pushing a shopping cart with all of his worldly possessions inside when I glanced over and looked him in the eye for a split second. I could tell that in that short time, he recognized me and might even be wondering to himself, "how am I doing"? I knew it was weird to see him on that particular highway, but really didnt think about it for long.
I told Carol the story when I saw her and commented that I thought it was Benchman. Well, last night around 11:30pm we were coming home when Carol called my attention to a brown dog laying at the head of Ten Mile Road. As we approached, we could see it more clearly. It was Benchman with his shopping cart at the head of our road. He was laying down in the street and only raised his head when my headlights hit him. Immediately Carol screamed, "Its Benchman"! Now, what does a person do? We are not too sure that he wouldnt cut our livers out if he had the chance, so we didnt stop. We got home so I called the Sheriffs Office.
The dispatcher told me that someone else had made a call to them too, and that thay had someone on their way out. Carol and I were watching TV and eating cheese dip when we kept asking each other about"Well, was he hurt...was he seriously wounded....is he psycho as he looks? After 45 minutes of Jerry Springer, we decided to jump in the truck and see if the sheriff had come yet. After getting to the head of the road we noticed that he was gone. So was his shopping cart. I drove across the street to the local grocery store looking for the shopping cart. It wasnt there either. I knew that if the sheriff picked him up,(for his own good!), that he would leave the cart.
I pulled on to Highway 70 and traveled maybe another mile before we saw the cart. Beside the shopping cart was Benchman laying on the edge of the highway! This time it was Carols turn to call the sheriff. She is such a good communicator, she probably talked to the dispatcher ten minutes. The dispatcher wasnt sure if they had any one on the way yet, but informed us she would give them an update on his location. After knowing that we need about all we could do, we went to bed. We both included him in our prayers.
This morning Carol and I headed in to town expecting to see him on the road either sleeping or dead. We never did see him or his shopping cart so we are assuming that he is still in possession of his stuff pushing his shopping cart down some highway. We wonder if we will ever see him again. Is he going South for the winter to stay in one of his other condos or did the sheriff pick him up and take him for a mental evaluation?
Carol and I have never met Benchman, but we both feel as if we know him. We care about him and will miss him.
This was a true story. It makes me thankful for what I DO have!
Thanks for listening,
Lil Brother
