My Old Homburg Hat

Who would believe an old hat could change the lives of so many people. Outside the coffee shop I frequent sits a homeless man with a sign like we see in so many cities asking for a handout. Most people take these people for granted and just walk on bye. This always upset me so I try to give him a looney or some change. Every time I would give him something he would say, I really, really like your hat since I am in the habit of wearing a Homburg. If you are not familiar with them just Google the name or maybe you can get a picture in your mind of the hat Winston Churchill wore. (That's a Homburg) Back to my story. This homeless man made such a fuss over my hat telling me he really, really liked it each time he saw me. So one day I said it seems you are taken with my hat so I gave it to him. Well his whole demeanour changed as soon as he put that hat on. So I whispered in his ear this is a good luck hat, every time you wear it you will have good luck. My friends in the coffee shop saw what I did so I told them why I did it and I mentioned telling the guy I said it was a good luck hat. The following day one of my friends and his wife gave the man a bright red shirt and a tie filled with beautiful flowers. The man put them on immediately. So our simple gestures of kindness spread around the coffee shop and everybody started bringing him things like a warm coat, a grocery cart to replace the store shopping cart he usually pushed, and more bright beautiful shirts and a pretty scarf. One lady even gave him a brush so he could take care of his lucky hat. All this attention made this man as bright as the clothes people gave him. He was constantly smiling from ear to ear. His seat was one of those huge concrete flower pots the City puts on the street very high and uncomfortable. So the coffee shop employees gave him a folding chair that they put out in the morning and took inside when he left. They also started giving him free meals and coffee. Somebody asked him his name and he said, just call me "LUCKY" All the customers of the coffee shop started paying attention to him and calling him by his new name "LUCKY" He became a new person who had a lot of new friends. He even started hugging people who gave him things and guess what? They started hugging him right back. Who would believe a small act of kindness could blossom like that. I like to think we are helping him, but I think he is helping us. Cal Bambi "The word artist" ©riginal 2020 I paint pictures with Words calbambi@gmail.com