Nervous. Worried. Afraid. Fearful. Concerned. Nervous. Tingly. Nervous. I felt as I walked.
I turned the corner and caught my eye's onto this shoeless, blue sweatered man. I walked up to him, stopped at the bottom step of a series of three steps, and leaned my arm and my body weight against the concrete column next to me, not concerned with filth or dirt or sickness or germs.
I kicked off my boots. Shaking. Nervous. Intimidated. Like I was speaking to a girl I liked for the first time.
I reached down to the ground and picked up my boots with one hand. I held them out in front, arms extended, of my body.
"Here. These are for you. I want you to have my boots." I said to shoeless in Austin.
The drunk girl in the yellow shirt and faded blue jeans behind and to the left of me said, "Oh wow man! No Way!"
"Oh. No man, no. I can't wear any shoes for forty days brother" Shoeless in Austin said.
Blank look on my face. Shocked. Surprised. Embarrassed. I began to sweat.
"Dude, I just walked 3. THREE. THREE blocks to get here and wrestled with the decision to give you my boots the entire time. Then I get here and take off my boots while you watch me and then I hand them to you. You are taking these boots."
"No man. Thank you but I can't wear shoes brother."
"Well........... take them and trade them or something. Carry them around in that bag of yours until you can wear shoes again." Maybe he had an issue with his feet, shoes hurt his feet or something. Something medical like a condition or something. That's what I figured, why I figured he would not accept my boots.
Shoeless in Austin looked at the boots for a moment and then he looked down at his bag, trying to determine if it was worth it to carry these big cowboy boots for the next forty days or not.
Shaking his head deliberately like a little child turning down a chocolate bar or a bowl of ice cream, he said, "No man. I can't do that. Thanks man, that's nice of you."
I dropped my boots to the ground and leaned up against the concrete column to put my boots back on. I was so nervous about the whole thing, I felt like I'd been drinking or getting high or something. I stumbled a bit when I was putting my boots back on.
CRAAASSSHHHH!!!!!!! BAAAANNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! SMMMMAAACCCKKKKKK!!!!!!
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
I looked back and over my right shoulder. White girl in the yellow shirt fell off her bike and crashed onto the clean Austin City Sidewalk. A cheap cell phone sat on the Austin City Sidewalk next to her pocket like it had fallen out when she fell off her bike. She sat on her butt, hands pressed to the Austin City Sidewalk behind her, elbows bent, 4 inch rip in the crotch of her faded blue jeans.
"You okay?" I didn't really care of she was okay. I had the brief thought to walk over and give her a hand up and then pray for her. I thought Shoeless in Austin was more important for some reason. Anyways, a few strangers walked by and helped her to her feet.
"Asa SHalhuffenington Dingdong placesredghgtk" Shoeless in Austin said and then touched me on my left shoulder.
"What's that man? What did you just say?" I responded.
"I just blessed you in the Holy Spirit of God Almighty."
"Oh yea? So you're a Christian or something?"
"Yea brother. I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, anointed and blessed by the prophet Elijah two weeks ago on a city bus. He touched me on my back, on the right side, on my back, and he anointed me and then he gave me a dollar."
"Wow man." I pulled up the sleeve of my favorite flannel shirt showing my tattoo that reads "Jesus".
"I'm a Christian too bro."
"I was run out of town man. They took it all, they took everything. They stole my sermons and they ran. But I'm not on drugs man, I've got these allergies, allergies make me blink like this." Shoeless in Austin blinked, an over-blinker, that's what he was. He blinked deliberately and frequently and then widened his eyes like something shocking was just happening.
"Dang man. That's crazy."
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