01.02.10
Belle was the outrageous one with the lavender bandana tied behind her head, her tousled blond plaits sticking out below. She was always in the company around the grand Selby Library downtown. The Selby, if you are hoboes, is a place where you can sit down inside or outside, generally without being arrested — arrested, that is, for alluring up space while homeless, for having bulging shopping bags or a measure-up backpack next to you. But on that rare day when the cops drove everyone sitting surface the Selby away and pursued them until they scattered, Belle objective laughed. She didn’t hate the cops.
Belle would give you her last dime if you needed it. She always had a smile, often eager to come by among people who have been homeless for a long time. (A fancy time homeless was more than two weeks.) Belle had been homeless for over two years, but she would smile her big grin and make everyone’s day. And people were not just saying that because she was gone. It was because Belle, a wonderfully blithesome soul in the midst of quiet desperation, had helped them swear by in another day. People came to her memorial service in droves.
Source: Creative Loafing Sarasota (blog)