Sucker

anybody traversing julia vargas cor. meralco avenue going to megamall is bound to get caught idling at the corner waiting for the light to turn green.

In most cases, you'll encounter a poor blind old man begging for whatever money you can spare. Once in your periphery, this gentleman will always capture your attention, if only for the fact that he uses a long tree branch to "feel" incoming cars and sidle up to the windows and ask for alms.

My initial encounter with this guy generated both worry (that he might scrape the paint off the car with his careless groping) and pity (he's an poor old man) so i rolled down the window and handed over a few coins as the light was about to go green.

However, something inside me was telling me that there is something fishy with the whole setup.

On the last second before i crossed the intersection, it hit me. The guy, poor and blind, was wearing a digital wristwatch!

I managed to shout out to him "Bakit ka may relos manong?" Blind guy pretended not to hear, and shuffled off to the safety of the intersection as the cars noisily revved up and went from stop to go.

If he can sense the cars moving, it probably means he's not deaf. And since he's probably not blind as well, it only means that I'm a sucker.