| Stayer |
April 9, 2020
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| I worked part time for a tourism counter at the city's central train station once a week, every Friday. I commuted there by car. In the morning, I would park my car at a nearby parking lot, and walk to the station. On this particular morning, when I was walking to the station and was about to go up the staircase of the pedestrian overpass to get to the station, I noticed an old man who was sitting on the bench. It was a little bit of a strange sight because I had never seen anyone on the bench before, and it was early morning. The guy seemed to be in his late 60s. He was wearing a jacket and pants and had a middle-sized travel bag by his side. He was just sitting. It was early autumn, and kind of cool in the morning, which was another reason why I felt strange with him being there. From his appearance, he didn't look like a traveler. In the evening after work when I was going back to the parking lot, I saw him again. He was still there sitting on the bench without doing anything. "Is he homeless?" I thought. In this middle sized city, it was very rare to see homeless people. The city  is located in the north district of the country, in winter, even late autumn, the temperature would be in the minuses. "Maybe he just wants to relax for a while away from his usual life or something," I thought. By the next Friday, I had forgotten about him. However, when I got to the stairs, I saw him on the bench. His clothes seemed to be the same as the previous time. It was clear that he had been staying there. It was cooler than the last week. Did he stay here during the night? Although the bench area was covered, the place was still outside. From his appearance, he didn't look like he was homeless. His bag was not so big. Maybe he had moved to get something to eat. How about a shower? I had no idea. The next Friday, I was very curious about him. If he was there, it meant that he was there for more than three weeks. And I saw him. This time, he was lying on the bench with his bag under his head. He was wearing the same jacket, and huddling on the plastic bench. It was getting cooler day by day, he must be cold. At lunch time, I called a friend, my old coworker, who was now an assembly member of this city and told him about the guy. My friend promised me that he would contact the city's social welfare section and tell them about it. A couple of days later, I received a phone call from my friend. He said that he called the welfare office and they had already known about him. They said that the guy had a house and a family in this city. They persuaded him to return home, and the guy said ok at the time. "So you don't need to worry," he said. I thanked him. But, the next Friday, the guy was still there. I sighed. I had no idea why he was so stubborn. Are his family issues that serious? However, the next Friday, when I passed by, he wasn't there. He was gone. I was very relieved. Maybe he gave up his stubbornness. A couple of weeks had passed, when I was walking by the bench area which the old man sat on, I noticed a piece of A4 paper taped on the back of the bench. On the paper, there were some typed sentences. It seemed to be a message because the title read, "To those who were concerned about the man who was here". As I didn't have enough time to read it because of my job's starting time, I left meaning to read it on my way back from work. After work in the evening, I went to the bench. The author of this letter was a NPO which supported people in need. I didn't know that there was that type of NPO in this city. The NPO introduced themselves, and mentioned that they worked together with the city's welfare office on this case. The letter read: During his stay on the bench, many people were concerned about him. Some people gave the man some food and drink. The city and the NPO were very grateful for people's generosity. The guy stayed there for some reasons, but now he had returned back to his home. He was healthy and recovering from the problem. They expressed a great amount of gratitude to the people of the city. I felt warm thinking about the existence of many kindhearted people in our society. |
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*commute :通勤（通学）かる
*pedestrian :歩行者
*overpass :陸橋
*huddle :身を寄せ合う
*issue :問題
*mean to do :〜するつもり
*generosity :寛大さ
*gratitude :感謝