............Continued Snow fell in a blur. She pulled her thin nylon jacket against the tops of her half exposed bosom and squinted at a hazy figure slowly emerging from the drift. The huddled form shuffled painstakingly up the broken street towards her. He favored one side as he limped. His boots were mauled by the weather and one of his heels had broken of. Which made it all the harder for her to figure out why he limped. His swarthy, weathered skin matched the color of his ill fitting coat which swung in tatters at his ankles. But his black fedora was new. Despite the snow covered brim, she could see it was new. He wore it at an angle so it shaded his eyes. As he passed her, he brushed into her. At which she muttered ?Watch it Bud!? He jerked into a halt and with one sweep of his right hand, tipped his hat at the sound of her voice. One glassy eye gave her a vacant look while the other scrutinized her face. ?Too damn cold to be out here missy!? he nodded at her attire. ?This ain?t no place for you, either!? she retorted. Both watched the street for some form of sustenance?she for a client, he for a quarter. A sudden gust of wind swept a cloud of snow into their huddled frames. The man suddenly broke out into a dry hacking cough which after a while sounded like the barks of a drowning seal. She stared at him, willing him to stop the jarring noise. He couldn?t. ?Here?s a dollar and a quarter, go get yourself a hot cup of coffee!? she coaxed him impatiently. He held out his fedora in to which she dropped the money willing him to go away. Just then, a yellow topped cab screeched into a halt right in front of the bead shop. A pair of fine, suede boots trimmed with lynx fur emerged out of the cab. The boots supported muscular calves which bulked into fleshy thighs held together by sheer nylons. Her thighs barely squeezed into a fashionable, black, velvet skirt. The lady wore a matching lynx jacket and a fur trimmed hat. She wore suede gloves. She unsnapped her flat purse as she dipped her gloved fingers to pull out a twenty dollar bill with her ring finger and thumb while she held her smoking cigarette with her index and middle fingers. She handed the driver the money and scanned the street until she espied what she was looking for?the I-Matti, a ritzy Italian restaurant a few doors away from the bead shop. She was dressed chic for a date that Friday. The lady in suede stepped on to the side walk where the hobo and the street walker huddled against the wall. She smirked at the disheveled appearance of the woman and curled her lips back in repugnance as she would at a drowned rat. As she passed the homeless man, she stepped closer to his extended hat and took a deep puff of her cigarette. She elegantly stretched a gloved hand, tapped the ashes into the new fedora and strutted away without a backward glance. **************************************************** I watched with bile rising in my mouth, the anticipation of a wonderful evening with a lovely lady dissipated as does a fog in the face of a scorching sun. I hailed a cab and rode back to my lonely apartment, leaving my date stranded on the Friday before Halloween. *****The End****