Richard’s Holiday Story

It was Christmas Eve 2004 when Richard first met Luis. It was a rainy night and Richard, who was homeless at the time, was sleeping in the Civic Center. It was still dark when he awoke from the rain and empty. Richard remembers the moment vividly: the rain, Christmas Eve, the empty Civic Center, and then seeing one solitary figure at the end of it. “Two strangers in the rain,” is how Richard describes it.

Richard had seen Luis around before but did not know his name. He walked over to him and asked him why he didn’t go home. Luis put his hand in his pocket and showed Richard a handful of drugs. Then he said in his broken English that he couldn’t go home. Richard patted him on the shoulder and said, “Well, at least get out of the rain.”

It was a month later when Richard ran into Luis again. Luis was so excited to see him that he insisted on buying Richard lunch. Richard had already eaten but had a teabag in his shirt pocket, so he told Luis that instead of food, he’d take some hot water. And it was during that lunch when Richard discovered that Luis’ father had died. Tears come to his eyes when he talks about it. Luis saying in his broken English, “I have no father.” Luis is 16 at this time and Richard never had any children.

For the next few years they remained in touch. Their friendship continued to build. Even though Richard has a home, he sometimes sleeps on the sidewalk and when Luis would see him, he’d wake him up and force him to sleep inside where it was safe. Luis begins to call Richard his American father. But in the beginning of 2006, Luis disappears. This is not the first time it’s happened, but it is the longest. Richard is worried that he was deported back to Honduras. Months pass with no word from him. Richard moves, loses his cell phone, gets a new cell phone, and is convinced that he will never see or hear from him again. Until one day in June, he takes a bus that he doesn’t normally take and then sits down in the front of the bus even though he normally sits in the back, and when he looks up, it’s Luis sitting across from him.

Luis is 24 now and living in Honduras with a family of his own. He talks to Richard at least once a week, except instead of calling him his American father, he just refers to him as father. He worries that Richard isn’t eating enough and tells him to eat hamburgers instead of drinking tea. He wants him to move in with his family in Honduras before the next coffee harvest. Richard is still considering it.

When Richard tells the story he speaks of mysticism and magic. How two strangers in the rain one Christmas Eve can start a story that has no ending, that is still happening. How someone who needs a father can find someone who equally needs a son. And how no matter what happens, the simple act of caring about somebody means they will always find each other again and again. As Richard puts it: “What God puts together, no man can put asunder.”

Richard has been a guest of St. Anthony’s since 2009.