A to Z: Circle Meeting Snacks (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, i am providing the prompts.  You can write your story on your blog and leave a link here, or write your story in the comments, your choice.

Pick words from one list, or both, use them all, or use none.  The whole point is to get us writing, so please have fun with it!

This week's words are:

sustenance

booth

street

hint

syrup

drab

and/or

older

cardboard

wounded

front

empty

astonished

She knew she was going to need SUSTENANCE for the day ahead, so she pulled in to the cheap eats fast food place knowing she'd pay for it later in sluggishness from lack of good nutrition.  Right now, time was more important.

As she walked in, she spotted him at a BOOTH, standing with his back to the room.  Jeans, layers of shirts and an olive DRAB green jacket, boots, nondescript baseball cap.  Skinny, the kind of skinny that says he's a STREET person, and the demeanor that says he's not been able to clean up in a while and he knows it.  He was OLDER than she was, gray hair and gray stubble on his chin, she knew he more than likely had bad teeth.  His backpack, probably containing all his worldly possessions, was on the table in FRONT of him.

In his hand was change, and he was counting pennies, probably hoping to have enough to get something to eat before he headed out to the street corner nearby to hold up his CARDBOARD sign, Homeless, Please Help.

She wondered what his story was, although she knew it didn't really matter.  Maybe an alcoholic, maybe on drugs, maybe on nothing but suffering PTSD, maybe a homeless veteran.  No matter, he was a WOUNDED human being, someone whose mother had once loved him and envisioned more for him than this ragged existence.

Although she wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, she made it month to month most months and only once in so often had to go without food the last day before pay.  Right now she had a ten spot in her wallet, more than he might see if the weather stayed cold and gray and people didn't want to open their windows to pass out a buck because it was drizzling.

Except for the workers and him, the place was EMPTY.  Pretending not to notice him, she stepped to the counter and placed her order, cushioning it with an second large hash browns.  When the cashier passed her the change, she put the coins in her pocket and walked toward him as if going past, and slipped him the "folding money" as her dad had always called dollar bills.

"Thank you so much!" he said, and she smiled.

"You're welcome," she said.  "And I'll give you a HINT.  If you like the French toast sticks, the five piece order is $2.39, but the three piece order is only a dollar.  Order two of the three pieces and you not only get six pieces, you get them with tax for less than an order of the five pieces, and you get two containers of SYRUP!"

"Thanks again!" he said, and walked up to the counter.  "I'll take two of your three piece French toast sticks."  He looked over at her and winked.  "My mother used to make French toast for me, I haven't had any in a long time."

"Two nineteen is your total," the cashier said, and after he got his change she said to him, "See, one five piece would have been twenty cents more than that, plus more tax on top!"

"You're right," he said, "I'll remember that."

At that moment, her order was up, and she grabbed her bag.  Reaching in, she took her second large hash brown order, the one she knew was too much, and pulled it out.  As she walked past him again, she handed it to him, and he looked at her, ASTONISHED.

"Thank you, again!" he said.  He looked like he was holding back tears.

"You're welcome, and I hope you have a wonderful day," she said as she headed out.  She knew she would, and really did hope things would get better for him.

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Today is:

American Circus Day -- the first circus in the US opened this day in Philadelphia in 1793

Anniversary of the Second Republic -- Republic of Guinea

Day Sacred to Bona Dea and Day of Proserpina's Rise from the Underworld -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day -- and unless you have a really great job, we know your decision

Find-A-Rainbow Day -- a day to paint bright and colorful wishes for your friends, family, and sweetheart; if you actually find a rainbow in the sky, that's a plus, send a pic to the RainbowBrite site     

Hanshi a/k/a Cold Food Festival -- China (second day of the Quingming Festival)

Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; begins at sundown, local customs and dates may vary)

National Chocolate Mousse Day

National Day of Hope -- US; recognizing victims of child abuse and neglect, a day to recommit to make the world safe for children

National Walking Day -- US (sponsored by the American Heart Association)  

Overcome a Handicap Day -- on the day, in 1981, when one-legged Canadian high jumper Arnie Boldt cleared 6 feet 8¼ inches, only about a foot under the world record at the time

Paraprofessional Appreciation Day -- honoring the contributions of paraprofessionals everywhere

Pony Express Day -- US; inaugurated this day in 1860

Second Republic Day -- Guinea

Shower Dance -- Fairy Calendar

St. Irene of Thessalonica's Day (Patron of girls, peace)

St. Richard of Chichester's Day (called Ricardus, ri for ridens meaning "laughing", car for carus meaning "dear", dus for dulcis meaning "sweet"; Patron of coachmen and of the Diocese of Chichester, Sussex, England)

Tweed Day -- a day to consider the costs of political corruption, on the birth anniversary of "Boss" Tweed

Whole Grain Sampling Day -- sponsored by the Whole Grains Council   

World Party Day -- anyone and everyone is invited to join the party     

Anniversaries Today:

Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan, US, 1940

Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England, 1043

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Bynes, 1986

Leona Lewis, 1985

Cobie Smulders, 1982

Jamie Bamber, 1973

Jennie Garth, 1972

Picabo Street, 1971

Robert Chapin, 1964

Eddie Murphy, 1961

David Hyde Pierce, 1959

Alec Baldwin, 1958

Bernie Parent, 1945

Tony Orlando, 1944

Leona Lewis, 1943

Marsha Mason, 1942

Wayne Newton, 1942

Jane Goodall, 1934

Calvin "Baby Vet" Graham, 1930

Max Frankel, 1930

Virgil "Gus" Grissom, 1926

Jan Merlin, 1925

Marlon Brando, 1924

Doris Day, 1924

Herb Caen, 1916

Sally Rand, 1904

Henry Robinson Luce, 1898

Leslie Howard, 1893

John Burroughs, 1837

William Magear "Boss" Tweed, 1823

Edward Everett Hale, 1822

Washington Irving, 1783

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Endgame"(Play), 1957

"TV Guide"(Publication), 1953

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor is crowned king of England, 1043

The US Pony Express begins its first run, 1860

Gottlieb Daimler receives a German patent for his engine, 1885

Trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality, 1895

The US House of Representatives accept the "American's Creed," a patriotic contest winner by William Tyler Page, as the official creed of the US, 1918

The building of the RMS Queen Mary is commissioned, 1929

President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, 1948

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, 1968

The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, 1973

Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default, 1975

Conventional-Train World Speed Record: a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record, 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), 2007

Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2009

Following the News International phone hacking scandal, James Murdock resigns as Chairman of BskyB, 2012

France outlaws the hiring of models who do not meet new Body Mass Index (BMI) minimums for a certain period of time before and during a modeling job; the law aims to prevent promotion of anorexia among models and people who emulate them, 2015