Every morning, when my sister and I walked to school, we used to walk past an old blind man.

It wasn’t hard to find him, he always sat in the same place, asking for a coin for his dog who lay beside him. Sometimes I wondered if he ever moved since despite rain or snow he always seemed to be there, by the bus stop with his shivering dog.

“Why doesn’t he go home?” I asked is my sister once.

“He probably doesn’t have one,” she answered solemnly. “He wouldn’t sit out here by choice.”

We walked past him without a sound and without fail, my sister dropped a coin in his cup. I always walked on the road side because I was scared of the homeless man. He had a scarred face and hunched over with sad but small smile and even though he was blind he would always look me straight in the eye and wink at me.

The coin clunked loudly in his cup.

“God bless you,” he exclaimed smiling. He said it every time and my sister would always smile back.

Then one day my sister died and I had to walk to school alone. I scooted past the homeless man, trying not to catch his eye. Suddenly I paused, unwillingly and looked at him. He smiled at me and winked.

In that moment I thought of my sister and what she would do. It felt like I was letting her down ignoring the man that she found so much happiness and trust in helping. She would want me to do something for him, at least remember him because no one else would.

“Where’s your sister?” He asked.

“Erm she won’t be coming here anymore,” I replied slowly.

“That’s a shame, I liked her.”

“So did I.”

I start walking slowly away from him, hoping he won’t notice.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he called after me.

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry she died.”

“How did you know?”

“The best part of my day was always when you and your sister came by. She was the only one that dropped a coin in my cup but she was the only one that genuinely smiled at me. She was thoughtful and kind, that’s rare now.”

Suddenly he didn’t seem scary at all in fact I was more intrigued by him as a person. What he had done before he came here and why he had a dog and if he had family...

“I miss her a lot too,” I said.

“Well best be on your way to school then, you don’t want to end up like me,” he laughed.

I turned before remembering something. I shut my eyes and listened for the soft clunk against the cup.

“God bless you,” I said it before he could.

I could tell I took him by surprise.

“Thank you,” he said slowly and quietly.

But it was his smile that spoke the thousand of words that he could not.