Last night I was invited out to Barnes & Noble by my friends Nick and Brian. I got a call at around 9:00 from Brian, which surprised me since not only did he seem dead tired he also had a considerable amount of school work to do. Upon exiting my car in the parking lot of B&N, I heard a voice behind me say "EXCUSE ME SIR."

I turned around to find a rather disheveled african american man in a thick blue sports jacket. "Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you!"

I always love hearing that expression, especially since I almost always carry some kind of edged weapon. Perhaps growing up in Fresno, CA has made me somewhat fearless of people I see out in the streets. Especially in a place like Ahwatukee. The man approached me and told me a story about how DPS impounded his car and that he needed some extra cash to get it back. He said he needed his car back so he could get to Tucson. Seeing as how no one in their right mind would ever lie about having to go to Tucson (no one ever really wants to go there), I did not think it would be a bad idea to help this man out. I reached into my pocket and pulled out what little cash I had in my wallet . 2 dollars (I need a job) is all. Upon handing it over and saying "Good luck," I was greeted with a big toothy smile.

"Thank you! You're one of the nicest people I've talked to in this neighborhood. What gives? Why is everyone an asshole and why aren't there any black people around here? Goddamn!"

'This is Awhatukee my friend. This place is full of stuck up assholes with no compassion for anyone.'

"Well thank you again for your help. I can tell you're not originally from here."

'Nah, I'm originally from San Diego. I moved around from place to place when I was a kid and by some odd force I managed to get stuck here.'

This part of the conversation made me realize that I've been here in Awhatukee for way too long. Sure I lived in Tucson for 3 1/2 years, but the issue about Ahwatukee and most of Phoenix remains the same. This place, this city, is not for young people like me. This is the place where seniors go to retire and 30 somethings go to buy their cheap mini-mansions. This is a city for lives that are on the decline. Despite being one of the hottest areas in this Country, my little patch of Arizona could easily be described as being a very cold and unfriendly place to live.

Me and this man walked into Barnes and Noble continuing our conversation. Apparrently he was traveling out to Tucson all the way from Boston. He asked me what I was doing in life. I unfortunately had to tell him that I wasn't sure anymore.

"Well things could be worse. You could be out in the middle of some parking lot asking people for spare change. You may not always end up where you want, but sometimes you are where you are. All you can do is try and hope for the best."

After that comment, I wished him luck and shook his hand. He made his way to the restroom and that was the last I saw of him. He never gave me his name. Whether or not his story about his car or having to go Tucson was true meant meant very little to me. What mattered was that I may have helped someone out ever so slightly while gaining an interesting conversation in return.