Blackjack

Before, when it was completely platonic, completely innocuous, Elizabeth helped out a local black man that was homeless, and had been homeless as long as she could remember. He was black -- but that was the appeal. He was older -- that didn't matter. But after D-Train, she wanted someone that had a good soul -- and she knew this man had that. She only knew his name, Jack. She heard most people refer to him as Black Jack.

She hadn't seen him in awhile, so wrapped up in Jamaal and D-Train and her divorce. She didn't see him on his corner, so she went, hesitantly, into the tent city under the overpass. The stench was overwhelming. One man, eyes glassy, looked up at her, asking for some change. Elizabeth game him a five.

"Have you seen Jack?" she asked, a little panicked now.

"Black Jack or White Jack?" the man asked her, slurring.

"Black Jack," Elizabeth said. Well, that answered why people called him Black Jack.

"He's down on the other end of MLK. The cops gave him a beating last week, so he's tried to make himself scarce."

***

Finally, after a day of searching, she found him. He was bruised and bleeding, but didn't want to go to the hospital. He didn't want to sue. So she made a gamble: she brought Black Jack home.