Breakfast

A rather full house for Morning Prayer. I think I counted nine total, which is at least a few more than usual. Jenny is a newcomer who dropped in for the second time today. She goes to Watts St Baptist on Sundays but says it so big that it is nice to come by for our prayers during the week and the chance for a little bit of community. Betty was also in attendance, who makes our breakfast egg casseroles. She usually just checks to be sure we have everything we need for the week. It was wonderful to hear such a full choir of voices singing the canticles on a cool Monday morning in May.

We had breakfast outside on the picnic tables. L slept through it, under the covered walkway, as usual. He had set up one of the storage tubs we provide to keep their things dry, making it into a sort of shelter from the sun that shines directly onto his spot. R and C were around as usual, and C came to the tables and said a couple of other guys were going to walk up so maybe we should heat up some more casserole. Adam went in and got to that since I had only prepared a small amount. Kale stayed outside with Lisa, JR and I, quite interested in both staying warm and in a piece of string he had tied to a ribbon spool. I asked him if it was a yoyo and he said matter of factly, “No, its my string.”

Two white men came up following C. I thought I had seen one of them before. They were pleasant and fairly well put together. One of them had been banned from the city of Greenville, they said, since he had gotten into so much trouble for panhandling. I wasn’t sure that cities were in the habit of issuing sentences of exile, but that was the stated reason for coming to Durham. The other guy, whom he said the others called “Cowboy” (they are wont to give such nicknames) I knew I had seen before. I think he may even have been to breakfast once or twice at St Joe’s. They both ate a good chunk of egg and drank a full glass of juice and thanked us kindly. We said what we always say: “W’re here M-F for breakfast. Come by anytime you want.”