Iced by Ray Shell

Author:Ray Shell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

A fifteen-year-old boy passed me, then came back and asked me if I had any money. I told him no, because I didn’t know if he was cool or not. He was persistent. He told me that he was hungry. He hadn’t eaten in two days.

I thought at first that he was conning me to see if I really had any money. I started walking away.

He caught up with me and begged me to let him walk with me.

He had run away from his father in Kentucky and had stolen away on a Greyhound bus and ended up in NYC.

His name was Mercury. He was from Florida.

His mother had sent him to stay with his father in Kentucky because she had just gotten married again and he and her new husband weren’t getting on.

Mercury’s father, in Kentucky, was a bit of a drunk, not able to support himself, and certainly not willing to support and care for a fifteen-year-old troubled teenager.

They had fought, and after a fierce beating Mercury had stabbed him, taken what money he could find and bussed his way cross-country until he arrived at New York Port Authority.

He had been in the city two days.

We talked together as we toured the haven of the homeless.

Mercury looked like he was eleven. Small, Mexican-looking, skinny body with a big head and masses of curly black hair.

A pretty boy.

Mercury could make money selling himself if he wanted to.

He would probably have to eventually if he wanted to survive.

I listened to him as he told me his history guiding ourselves outside the park to 63rd St.

Mercury stopped talking when he realized that we were no longer under cover but were exposed to civilization again. He looked up at me with hungry moon eyes. I took his hand and guided him to a delicatessen that was across the street. We bought lots and lots of food, candy and soda. We walked back into the park, back to the fountain, sat on some steps and feasted.

I gave away most of my share to some old people who asked.

I felt like Jesus with the five fishes and the loaves of bread.

And so I spent the night—talking, listening, wandering, praying that I never come to this.

Without shelter.

Without walls of safety around me.

To be homeless would be the ultimate cruelty.

I can hardly imagine not having shelter.

God forbid.

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