Reprieve

Greed

 So? Which one?" James’ mother asked him, holding butterscotch in one hand and a vanilla ice cream on the other, as she stood by a deli in the Central Park of Lordsville. It was dusk and the sun was inching closer to the horizon a little faster than it seemed a few moments ago.

"The yellow one! The yellow one!" cried little James. Giving the vendor the exact change, the mother and son were just about to leave when the sight of an unpleasant and unfamiliar figure stopped them in their tracks briefly.

"Care to spare some change, Ma'am? The Lord and our savior will bless you for helping the needy." a shabbily dressed man with a hoarse voice and coarse appearance called out.

"Heh! Please go somewhere else. I've got no money to spare on the likes of you!" James mother retorted.

As she tugged James away, not even trying to hide her apparent irritation, the child couldn't help but turn back and glance at the beggar, whose eyes still had a glimmer of hope.

“Mom, why can't we give some money to him? Miss Caroline had told us that we should help people in need!”

“That's what you learn in school, James. In real life, you need to be more careful. You don't know these goons. If I give him money, all he would do is go to some shady place and drink bad stuff or even worse spend all of the money on gambling. It is not worth spending money on these tramps. If he's really needy, I am sure he will get by with the money that he will get from others who will pity.”

As the distance increased to the point of no return, the beggar turned away, dejected, finally giving up the little hope he perhaps foolishly had.

Decades later, James worked at a senior post in an IT company. He had just given a successful presentation at a meeting. To celebrate, he and some of his colleagues had dinner at a nearby five-star hotel. Life was good.

Time slipped by until someone realised it was late. There were hurried goodbyes and hugs, and everyone went on their way home. As James reached his car in the parking, someone spoke some eerily familiar words, “Care to spare some change Sir?”

It was a beggar. He saw one after such a long time, the voice in his head laughed at the idea of such people still existed.

For some unknown reason, James felt repulsed at the sight of the beggar. An adult now, he also had a hunch that he wasn’t penniless and was resorting to dupery.

“I am sorry man. I don’t have any cash left with me.” He confessed falsely and sat in his car.

After driving a little distance, James felt something in his heart. Was it guilt? He did have money, but for some reason, his mouth spoke of his own. He looked into the mirror to see if the beggar was still there but no.

“He must be getting plenty of money every day, it won’t harm him if I did not give him anything,” He thought to himself and felt slightly better.






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Thanks to Partha Sarathi Padhi for edits.
I know it's a little short but I have just got out of the block so it will take some time for me to settle down. Please comment below how you feel about the story.