The homeless man's expression was calm. He placed his hands on the table and said, "When we first met him, Uncle Donovan told us we were able-bodied, with brains and brawn. He said we shouldn't be homeless and that we should use our own two hands to earn money for food.
I was just lazy and chose to be homeless because I didn't want to work. Back then, none of us paid him any mind. He came back a few more times after that, but he never managed to persuade anyone.
We thought he'd give up, but that old man was stubborn as a mule. One time, he followed us all the way back to our temporary shelter."
They weren't heartless people. Besides their own parents, Old Man Donovan was the first person who refused to give up on them.
Soon, someone took the first step and went home with the old man. At Old Man Donovan's house, they took showers and changed into clean clothes.
Some of them, not wanting to refuse the old man's kindness, tried their hand at some manual labor.
