Unfortunately, it's one of the sounds you can get used to really quickly in Chicago: the rattle of coins in a paper cup and the chant, "Spare change?" The other day I even saw someone taking a picture of one of our neighborhood's regulars. And then there are the ones that aren't "regular" at all--really clean-cut, young guys, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk with a sign or paper cup. I get the weird sensation that we passers-by are participants in a social experiment and will soon show up on somebody's term paper. That suspicion was somewhat reinforced when I was coming home from Mass. I saw a young man, cross-legged and hunched over--but he was looking at the LCD screen of a digital camera. He must have heard my steps, because quickly the camera went in a case and a coffee cup was produced. "Spare change?" he said with a hint of sheepishness.
I almost chuckled, but you never know.
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