Herb

In a wheelchair,

homeless,

at a busy intersection in Long Beach.

He was wearing dark shades,

and when I approached him, he put up his hands as if to keep me away. I stopped in my tracks, and said I was a friend. He smiled, and beckoned me to come closer. We spoke for awhile - he said things were not going well,

and that he had been "kicked off the island," and wasn't allowed to display his sign asking for money. When I asked to take his photos, he took off his shades, told me to get the

wheelchair in the photo, which I didn't, as I am more interested in faces than wheelchairs. When I asked him his name, he said, "Herb. You know - like herb," and then pantomimed the motion of smoking a joint, and we both laughed.

Done