Nickels
There was a very old man sitting by himself on a bench in the park. He was a well dressed old man and it was impossible to not notice the flair in his style.
He was wearing a matching coat and pants, a white shirt, black tie, and meticulously shined shoes that shined the way spotlights shine from lighthouse towers, onto beaches, while waves crash into the shores at night. He had a cane with him that had a polished brass head in the shape of an elephant. It was encrusted with diamonds and lined with ivory. His clothes fit in a way that did not make him look like an old man, but a man in the height of his style and appearance.
Yes, everyone who saw that very old man noticed his flair for style.
He was feeding the pigeons Buffalo Head Nickels that he kept in a knapsack. They would fly down by his feet and instead of tossing them chunks of breadcrumbs or birdseed, he tossed out Buffalo Head Nickels from 1913. As one would imagine, pigeons trying to eat Buffalo Head Nickels end up finding themselves to no longer be pigeons in a present tense. That is to say that he had a flock of dead and dying birds at his feet. Yet as he tossed out handfuls of buffalo head nickels, the pigeons would dive towards them, swallow, and choke.
The very old man would laugh heartily and slap his knee with his hand. This was comedy to him- comedy gold.
As people walked by he would stop his game and pretend to notice the flock of (former) birds at his feet.
“What’s happened to all the pigeons?” people would ask that very old man. He was well dressed and kind looking, so asking him questions never seemed awkward or imposing. He looked exactly like the kind of man you would always stop to ask a question of, whether you knew him or not.
His response would always be one of confused horror.
“Oh my dear!” he’d always say. “I didn’t even notice!”
The people would always stop to console him and they would, sometimes, for hours on end. The very old man would smile because someone taking time to spend time with a very old man is a kindly thing to do. He would do this, sometimes, for many hours of the day. He would always do it until he was sufficiently entertained or had met enough nice people.
A little bit of attention goes a very long way for a very Old Man- especially when there are so many pigeons in the city. It’s amazing what you can still buy with a nickel.