October 19, 2012:
"Fweeeeeee! Fweeeeeee!"
Thin, bent, white haired. Voice rising and falling like an air raid siren, hawking his newspaper outside local grocery stores.
You could describe him as "a local character". But this does injustice to his impact. A one-man gauntlet of oddness, leaning close, waving his fistful of free samples, agitated and self-absorbed. He seems random, it's impossible to predict his actions, so that his behavior creates definite stress in those he encounters. The people swerve away, especially children, who shrink in fear.
I suggest to him one day that the credibility of his paper is diminished by his aggressive strangeness. Perhaps it would be more effective to behave with greater dignity?
"Thank you for acknowledging me," he says bitterly, with real venom. Then straight back to work, leaning into a family with a loaded cart, waving his fistful of samples, chanting, "Fweeeeeee! Fweeeeeee!", voice rising and falling like an air raid siren.