Shelter from the Wind

A few days before Christmas, on a cold, grey and very windy day.  As I reached my building, I realized someone was standing in the vestibule.  I came in out of the wind, to see an elderly white-haired and white-bearded man wearing a long dark coat, and holding a clear plastic bag from the fruit-and-vegetable store.  He looked very cold and very pale.  I said “come into the lobby and get warm!  Would you like a cup of coffee?”

He politely declined, and said he was just taking shelter from the wind for a moment.  I tried again to get him to go into the lobby, which would be warmer, thinking maybe I should get him up to my apartment and warmed off, and make sure he was healthy and had a home to go to.  Maybe I could drive him somewhere. But again he politely declined to come in.

I ran up the stairs, which was faster than taking the elevator. Instant hot chocolate was faster than coffee or tea, so I put water on to boil and grabbed the quickest thing I could find that might give him some energy, which was a plate of cookies.  

It could only have taken a few minutes, but when I got back downstairs, there was no sign of him.  But I felt as if I had been tested and had, at least once, done the right thing.

I had a very good Christmas that year.

Now, I remember from a book a had as a child, that sometimes when he has to go about town without being recognized, Santa Claus wears a long dark coat to cover his red one.   

But why, I’ll always wonder, did he have a bag of tomatoes?