A very B-type thing happened to me this evening. I've been fighting a cold and my burning throat was not even amenable to ice cream! So I trekked down to the store in my building to find some relief. A pack of Sucrets for $7 was more than a bit unreasonable and since it was between snow squalls, I chose to head out to the CVS for a more fiscally reasonable option. I was the only one on the sidewalks. Well, that is for the first 2 blocks. Then, in front of me in the middle of the icy, snow-covered sidewalk is a man face down, not moving. "Shoot!," I thought. I looked around but no one was around except for the plow truck oddly stopped with the driving eye-ng my predicament. There was no blood around the guy so I thought he might be hypothermic and/ or drunk. I tried to get his attention with multiple, loud "SIR? ARE YOU OKAY? SIR? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" No response. His big puffy coat kept me from being able to see his chest rise and fall with each breath.
"Great," I thought. I just stumbled on a dead guy in the middle of a sidewalk in downtown in a snowstorm. I decided I'd give him a little nudge with my foot. The minute my foot touched his hand, he leaped up and started laughing. "I'm not dead! I'm alive! You thought I was dead! I'm good!" I proceeded to remind him of the obvious: the windchill was close to zero and he was sleeping/passed out face down on the icy sidewalk. He didn't seem to care as he resumed his position. Not knowing what to do in this situation, I went onward toward the store and got my sore throat lollies. I took a different route home.
I did mention this to a police officer but apparently, they are unable to force those under the influence into shelters in this type of weather.
The experience was funny on the surface but really sad when I gave it more thought.
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