As I carried my jacket on a hot afternoon,
looking for relief from the heat,  
a thin woman I was walking past asked me for "food money".  
I wondered whether she was really poor,
or just a panhandler working the street.  
She was good at asking, really good.  
But I’m a skeptic where panhandling’s concerned,
because I work for a living, and always have.  
And I know a thing or two about conning,
so I’m not likely to be taken in.  
But I looked her in the eye and saw another universe.    
I put a dollar in her hand.
“God bless you, sir”, she said, as I walked away.  
I left her with that small investment to let it increase forever.  
But it felt like the increase was mine.