The past

Pief died recently, but I did not find out until I saw it in the local newspaper today, on the front-page. He was one of the older homeless in this town. Are there more and more of them nowadays or do we see them more because they are all selling that street magazine? I remember him clearly when he was 25 years younger, proud and arrogant in drag, wearing a green mantle, chased by youngsters down the street. In the years that followed I saw him becoming more and more extravagant. He turned into a walking work of art, just around the same time I was almost one too. I remember blood on my clothes with bird claws hooked onto them, my hair dozens of colors. He was more the drag queen kind of guy. Twenty-five years later he was nothing more than a man in rags without teeth and a black crow on his shoulder. At least he was still that extravagant. I was amazed when one day he started speaking to me, to sell me a copy of the street magazine. Never seen him talk to anyone, never thought he would talk to me. Sorry to see he had to like this. What did he die of? Pneumonia. There are worse ways to go.