Mumbles

"My names Tina, but people call me Mumbles"

That was the first words I heard as I looked into the face of someone I had assumed was a young guy down the street.

But it was a girl, she looks like and dresses like a teenage boy, rides around on a bmx bike, her pants sag,  she has on a big baggy shirt, a snapback cap which covers her shaved head, and all over you can see tattoos and piercings. She has some tattoos on her fingers, some behind her ear, on her neck, all over, and piercings and marks of piercings all over.

She proceed to look at my books and makes crude jokes about pictures and proceeds to let me know she is a lesbian. Then she asks me what I am doing around this area I tell her how I'm a student, and raising money for school.

She has deep eyes. You can tell her life isn't a easy one, she has burdens. Still weighing on her as we spoke.

Nonetheless she tells me she wants to help. She speaks in ghetto language, making sure to skip the niceties and roughly tells me what she is thinking.

After affirming she wants to help she pulls out a lottery ticket and tells me to meet her down at the gas station, she wants to go cash it and give me a few dollars.

So she takes off and I meet her down there since she is much faster than me on her bike. I canvass a guy outside the gas station and she comes out, then the person I was talking to, who was being really aloof, started making jokes with her.

Turns out she knows everyone, and she has an idea to help.

She decides to bring me down to a couple of bars, of which i know have both already been canvassed. I go with her down a couple of blocks.

Along the way we talk, and I learn she has three kids. She lives with another woman who helps her and they are currently fighting, somewhat about the kids.

She also decided to tell me a funny story, not so funny to me, of how she used to live in LA and she got bit by a shark. She even showed me the massive scar on her side. (it looked like it bit off half of her almost.)

She told me she punched that shark in the face and cussed it out. She apparently really didn't appreciate the attack. She said she felt bad about the kids on the beach that had to see her yelling and bleeding everywhere.

We got to the bars through a few alleys. We went into the first bar, we soon found out they already got a book, and no one in there would give a donation. Mumbles tried hard to explain what I was doing, going ahead of me to each person and asking them to help me and look at the books. She was very sweet actually, you could tell she got a little discouraged after the guys at the bar wouldn't listen.

She changed out some of her cash and exclaimed to everyone there very abruptly.

" if ain't none of you gonna give, **** Im gonna give to help"

She gave me a dollar as we walked out.

She tried to act like everything was OK, but it wasn't.

We walked outside and I gave her a Happiness. She looked at me very thankfully, she wanted to read it with her partner.

But she wasn't done yet with me, she still wanted to do the other bar. On the way a guy was in his car leaving the lot. She walked up to his window and kind knocked onto it, he waved her off, she went right around in front of the guys car gave him a look and he gave her a look.

He wouldn't roll down the window, she then threw her bike on the ground and started cussing at the guy and said she would fight him.
She proceeded charge his car but I grabbed her and told her she shouldn't do that.

She cooled down and the guy drove off, it turns out she didn't like that guy from previous stuff before. So thankfully it wasn't because of me which crossed my mind.

At the next bar it was really crowded, guys going all around, smoke and bad air pressing on me as soon as we entered.

She brings to the owner and introduces me a little, though again she lives up to her name and mumbles out everything she wants to say. He asks me a couple questions about the project and gets a book.

Wow.

Then she brings me through the crowd telling everyone in proximity about me, the bar tender stops by and asks about the book, and says he wants one too, he pulls some money too.

Its lunchtime, I ask her if there is anyone who wants spiritual books.

"People don't like to hear much about that stuff" she says quietly.

I tell her that thank you, and that I appreciated her help and I pulled out health and peace (ministry of healing) and tell her I want her to have it. Is show her some of the chapters and what its about and I look up at her and she looked at me and said

"Man, you got me all cryin and stuff... thank you"

She gave me a hug and thanked me and hugged me again.

I talked a little more with her and left, she signed up for bible studies too.

That is an experience I won't forget. Mumbles made a deep impression on me, but its much more amazing too, I know in my heart God wanted to meet her and just show her some Love.

I won't forget her, I pray now though I will meet her again. Not here on this earth, somewhere better, so I can see her eyes again, but this time filled with joy peace and not sorrow and suffering.