The Tramp with the Golden Smile

When I was a kid during the Great Depression, a tramp came knocking at our door. He said he was hungry and would like to have something to eat. So my mother, who often took in stray cats and dogs, invited the man into our humble home. The man was trying to earn his fare to other parts of the world by selling small items like shoe laces and thimbles.

So the man sat down at our dining room table and smiled in gratitude at my generous mother. Even at my tender age, I noticed that his teeth were filled with many gold fillings. I silently wondered how he could afford such expensive dental work.

So, as he drank his coffee and ate his day-old piece of bakery, he began to talk about himself. It seems he was headed for Hawaii and he would fly, not go by boat.

When he arrived in Hawaii, he planned to run in an election and become the president of Hawaii.

I began to get a little suspicious, even though I was young I knew that the president of Hawaii was the same person as the president of the United States of America. My mother didn't seem to be disturbed at all by this man who lived in fantasy land.

Guess what? He came back the next summer for another cup of coffee and a piece of day-old bakery.

Well, maybe this is the way he saved enough money for a trip to Hawaii.......or maybe he pawned some of that gold.

I sometimes wonder where he ended up in reality, or if he ever did.