MARVE-lous

Don't trust Subway Sandwiches...I thought I would never hear (or see) myself saying (or typing) that statement. What is there not to love about a $5 footlong meatball marinara? Nothing. At least that is what i thought before Monday night. I will spare you all the details, but lets just say that I was pretty sick Monday night from Subway. Sad day.

My last post I wrote about my experience at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York, but I didn't spend all of my time at the church...that was only one night! Another night we went and saw a show on Broadway called "Finian's Rainbow." It was really good! It was about how an Irishman travels to America and buries his gold in hopes that it will multiply and make him a very wealthy man. However, the gold was not the Irishman's gold in the first place. He stole it from a leprechaun, and the this little leprechaun comes searching for his gold. I won't tell you the rest of the story, because you need to see it sometime! But after we watched the show, a couple of us went into Time Square and went to Starbucks.

While David and I were waiting for Camille and Ray to get their coffee, we met this guy named Marve. He had just gotten some coffee, and we later found out that he was homeless but he was lucky enough to get some money from a man at church that night so he bought some coffee since it was cold outside. This guy literally had us laughing the entire 20-25 minutes we were with him. First our conversation started friendly enough with some small talk like, "What's your name?" and "What are you drinking?" But our conversation quickly changed!

First, Marve thought that Camille and Ray were dating. So when some random guy started talking to Camille, Marve became pretty upset. He kept saying "Camille, get over here girl. Get over here." When she wouldn't listen to him, he started talking to us guys about how girls are always playing games. After convincing him that Camille was not some flirtatious floozy, Marve went on to explain his wild escapades with women in Atlanta. We didn't let him get into much detail but he did start off with saying, "When I went to Atlanta...I had a shawty the first night!"

Then we went on to talk about nicknames for people. Marve didn't like it that we called our friend "Ray." He thought it would be more appropriate to call him Raymond. Then I told him that people called me "chuck" from time to time, and Marve proceeded to say "WHACK!" I guess he didn't think that was a good idea either. Then David told him that people sometimes call him "D-Heff." With some crazy eyes, Marve paused for a few seconds then exclaimed, "WHACK!" The moral of that story...don't have "whack" nicknames.

As our time with Marve was winding down, he finished with a story. He said, "One time while I was in Atlanta I was eating all of this food, and I passed out!" Kind of perplexed, we all waited for a couple of seconds and then I asked, "You passed out because you ate so much food?" Then Marve said, "Nah, man...from PCP!" Moral of the story...don't eat a lot of food and take PCP. You could pass out in Atlanta.

I know this post does not give the full effect of the real-life Marve, but i can only hope that you find some enjoyment out of it. This guy was hilarious! He was also really friendly and nice to talk to. My New York experience would not have been the same without meeting him. I didn't even mention that fact he called me a chipmunk and grabbed my cheeks. He also said I had a "body." I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that but I took it as a compliment. So if you are ever in New York City in Time Square in the Starbucks and you see a black homeless guy, tell MARVE that I said, "Hey...and I think your name is WHACK!"