He was sitting in the shadows of a large Chicago building on the concrete windowsill. His face looked as if it were carved, almost unreal. As I stood and watched people walked by I noticed he would talk to everyone as if he were digging for conversation. “Hello, beautiful evening,” he would say never discouraged by a lack of dialogue.
As I kneeled down in front of him he enthusiastically told me that he has been sober since October 25, 1998. He told me he got sober the day after he was arrested for burglary on October 24, 1998. I could tell he was proud.
When he introduced himself, he pulled out his ID card to show me his full name. He then showed me his debit card, I think he was proud to be clean and on his own.
54-Year old Alen Kilbert Jr. is doing great today. That’s the story that he gave me. He was all smiles as he talked about his past being just that, his past
“Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.” - Henry Ward Beecher.