Some people refer to Mickey as a street person, the only one in our town. But that is not true. He has a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear. Mickey wears more or less the same thing every day – a winter flap hat, a sweater, a heavy jacket and a flannel shirt.

He walks up and down Main Street every day of the year in all weather and in all-weather clothes. He and I have an understanding, he is my only paid subject. He gets between $3 and $5 for every photo I take for him, he does not pose and I do not ask  him too. He always asks me to say hello to my wife.

I am s truck by his piercing blue eyes, I am rarely able to capture them in my pictures.

I ask him if he has eaten, and if he has not I give him enough money for chili, which he loves, or some other kinds of soup. I know he spends much of it on coffee and cigarettes, I don’t consider that my business. I know when Mickey was  young, he had a tragic response to some drugs, and ended up in a hospital being treated for schizophrenia.

He is a gentle soul and has never harmed anyone and the police here know him well and watch out for him. There is a great advantage to police officers knowing the people in their community. Mickey has come to me for help several times, that is reassuring to me. He has many friends in town who watch out for him, bring him food, give him good clothes.

It is better, I think, to be Mickey in our town than in a big city, where he was.