November 15, 2011
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The Never-Beats
The Never-Beats were homeless transients that hung around the Automat on 57thSt.
During the hopeless hours after midnight… They wandered around - men and women both
From table to table with a tray and empty plate and cup and picked up uneaten scraps
And abandoned coffee, milk or tea… enough for a haphazard meal for themselves
The manager never bothered with them because they cleaned up the tables after they ate
And stacked the cups and plates by the back door and if he was short a dishwasher or two
He’d slip them a couple of bucks off the books and they’d work it down all night
Loading the big washers and re-stacked dishes and cutlery on the roller carts to take inside
Automats were unique low-priced New York City Depression Era self-service eateries
The last one closed twenty years ago… The food was displayed in little glass boxes
Built into the walls of the large one-room dining area which held fifty or more tables
Four chairs to each… The glass boxes held a variety of food, buns, desserts, etc
The price was displayed next to a slot into which the correct amount of coins were placed
The window then popped open as one retrieved the contents and a new portion was inserted
By a couple of workers or the manager behind the walls… There was a “change lady”
Stationed in a booth at the front door because paper money was useless… Only coins counted
Our Automat was down the street from the Art Students League where we studied until 10 PM
Then adjourned to its warmth and a couple of donuts and a coffee or two
And made everything last for a few hours while we solved the problems of the world
And wondered if Truman would let old Douglas MacArthur drop the bomb on North Korea
One snowy night we were arguing if Andy Weith was really a painter or just a good illustrator
When a black lady at one of the tables in the back fell out of her chair onto the floor
She was a Never-Beat holding a baby in her arms and they were both dead
The ambulance guy told us someone mixed poison in with the left-over mashed potatoes
And it wasn't the first time this happened
Comments (2)
Evil lurks everywhere. So very sad that someone just trying to get by would be the target of a heartless monster!
Oh my dear God, how sad. Such cruelty even at that time when everyone knew that each one was hurting for just a couple of morsels to eat and survive.
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