Mickey’s world is complex, I am beginning to get a feel for it. At the same time every day, he comes to an intersection of town, there are two convenience stores with coffee and cigarets, a pizza place and two gas stations and Mickey is known there. Mickey is taking care of himself this week,  his stepbrother George is away for a few days, friends come bye to check on him. He is always clean, well-dressed, appropriately dressed, he is outside in every kind of weather.

I was eating  lunch in the Round House cafe when Mickey appeared in the window and waved to me, he was smiling, the first time he has smiled at me. I waved back, it was our way of saying we would meet shortly. When I got to his corner, he was standing by the telephone pole, swaying back and forth, list in his own world.  I took some photos, and gave him money for coffee, talked to him a bit – he is doing well, he said – and as I was leaving a young think man on a skateboard came rolling by, I think he had just gotten out of high school, he handled his board well.

He came up to the corner, and Mickey stood next to  him. The two stood side-by-side for a few minutes wordlessly, and then the boy handed Mickey a cigarette that he had light and taken a few drags on. Mickey took the cigarette, and the boy skated off. Mickey then crossed the street with his $2 to get his coffee. When I ask him if he wants coffee, he says, “yeah, yeah.” I was struck by his friendship with the young boarder, they obviously knew one another. Mickey has a lot of friends in town, a lot of people who watch out for him, take care of him. I am not one of them yet, I may not ever be, but we are developing the kind of connection a photographer has with a subject, and that is powerful in it’s own way.