For months, Spencer has been walking past a homeless man outside a coffee shop, thinking there’s something familiar about him. But she can’t quite put her finger on it until the day she sees the man performing emergency surgery on a pregnant woman.
For months, I walked past the same homeless man outside the coffee shop, usually after I’d had my morning coffee and bagel. He was always there, quiet, tidy, and almost invisible in his routine.
He never begged, which intrigued me.
A woman in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
Instead, he picked up trash scattered across the street and threw it in the trash without a word. And when he wasn’t cleaning, he sat cross-legged on the sidewalk reading the books people left behind at the cafe.
There was something different about him. He looked like a man who had fallen on hard times, but not like most people.
It seemed… familiar, almost.
A homeless man sitting on a sidewalk | Source: Midjourney
Sad, certainly, but not bitter. It was as if life had made him lose the game, but he kept playing.
I couldn’t put my finger on why he attracted me. I saw him there, day after day, and I felt this lingering attraction, as if I knew him from somewhere.
But I couldn’t make the connection
A woman in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
Until one day everything changed.
It was a Tuesday morning, completely ordinary, until it wasn’t.
I was getting my coffee and about to head to the office when I heard a noise behind me. I turned to see a pregnant woman on the floor, gasping for air, her face contorted in agony. Her husband was kneeling beside her, frantic with panic.
Pregnant woman sitting in cafe before falling | Source: Midjourney
“Help!” he shouted. “Someone, please! She can’t breathe!”
Everyone in the cafe froze. A dozen people stared, paralyzed by shock. I could feel the tension rising, the seconds ticking by like drops of water from a leaky faucet.
Then, suddenly, I was pushed aside, hard enough to make me trip and spill some of my coffee.
A spilled cup of coffee | Source: Midjourney
It was the homeless man.
He rushed toward the woman, calm and focused, like someone with years of experience in medical emergencies. With a single glance, he took in the scene.
The woman’s lips were turning blue. She was panting, clutching her throat. Without wasting any time, he knelt beside her.
A pregnant woman lying on the floor | Source: Midjourney
“We don’t have time,” he exclaimed.
“What are you doing?” her husband yelled. “Don’t touch my wife, you dirty bastard!”
The homeless man didn’t even flinch.
“If I don’t, she’ll die,” he said. “Emergency help won’t arrive in time. I’m telling you. She only has a few minutes left before she loses consciousness. Do you want me to save her and the baby or not?”
Paramedics hypothetically treat a patient | Source: Midjourney
The husband hesitated, torn between panic and disbelief.
In all honesty, I didn’t know how it was going to turn out either.
But the husband’s hands remained uselessly pressed against his wife’s swollen belly. Finally, with a desperate nod, he gave in.
A shocked man | Source: Midjourney
“What do you need?” he asked.
“I need some alcohol, like vodka or something. Even disinfectant! And bring me a pen and a knife. And bring me a pen and a knife. Quick!” he exclaimed loudly.
Everyone in the cafe stopped. For a moment, we felt like we were holding our breath. Then, as if by magic, someone rushed to grab a bottle of disinfectant from the cafe table, while another person fumbled with a ballpoint pen from their pocket.
A bottle of disinfectant | Source: Midjourney
The husband took a pocket knife out of his bag and held it out with a trembling hand. Panic and fear were evident in his eyes.
The homeless man worked quickly, steadily and safely.
I could only watch in silence as he disinfected the blade and disassembled the pen. His hands moved with practiced precision, like someone who had done this hundreds of times.
A man holding a pocket knife | Source: Midjourney
But how? When? Where?
I had so many questions to ask.
He leaned over the woman, placing a hand on her stomach for a few moments. Her eyes widened, then he moved up to her throat.
A shocked man | Source: Midjourney
I knew what he was doing. An emergency tracheotomy. I’d seen it on medical shows on TV. But this was real. And it was happening right in front of me, as my coffee was getting cold.
“Stay with me,” the man whispered as he made a small incision in the woman’s throat. “We’re almost there.”
The cafe was silent, all eyes on him as he slid the makeshift tube of the pen into the woman’s airway. For an agonizing second, nothing happened.
Shocked people in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
And then…
She breathed.
The sound of air rushing into his lungs was like music. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and the entire coffee expired in unison. People began to applaud, some wiping tears, others the sweat from their brows.
A smiling woman in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
The homeless man wasn’t pleased with the applause. He simply nodded, wiped the blood from his hands with a towel, and turned toward the exit.
In that light, his profile awakened a memory. I wasn’t going to let it disappear.
Not this time.
A homeless man in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
I grabbed his arm, my heart pounding.
“Wait,” I whispered. “I know you, sir. I’ve been looking for you for years.”
He turned around, his eyes narrowed. There was a flicker of recognition, as if he knew me too, but he couldn’t place it from where.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
“Dr. Swan,” I said. “You saved my father. Ten years ago, remember? After his car accident. You were the first on the scene. You pulled him from the wreckage and kept him alive until the ambulance arrived. You told my mother you were going home to find your daughter. We tried to find you afterward, but you disappeared. I never got the chance to thank you.”
His expression softened, but there was a heaviness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
A car accident scene | Source: Midjourney
“I remember,” he said quietly. “Your father. He was lucky…”
“What happened to you? Why did you disappear? We went to the hospital several times over the years. They said you just… left.”
He looked away, as if the answer was simply too painful to give. But after a long pause, he spoke.
A man looking upset | Source: Midjourney
“In one month,” he whispered. “I lost my wife and daughter. I couldn’t do anything. I tried everything, but they didn’t survive. They were also victims of a car accident. My daughter died immediately, but my wife… she stayed in intensive care for a month, and the day she opened her eyes after being in a coma…”
He paused.
“That day, I told her about Gracie, our daughter. That she hadn’t survived. My wife’s heart stopped beating. She fought for a month, but when she learned that our child was dead, she stopped fighting.”
A woman in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
I didn’t know what to say.
“Tell me, if I couldn’t save them, my family, how could I continue to save anyone else?”
The weight of his words hit me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.”
A pensive woman | Source: Midjourney
He gave a small, bitter smile.
“I couldn’t live with the guilt. I walked away from everything, from my job, from my home, from my life as I knew it…”
“You saved her today, woman,” I said. “You saved her and her baby. A mother and her unborn baby. That has to count for something.”
I pushed my muffin towards him.
For a long moment, he stared at me, lost in thought. Then, finally, he gave a small nod.
A muffin on a plate | Source: Midjourney
“Maybe it matters,” he admitted.
For the next few weeks, I looked for him every day. Every morning on my way to work, I would drink my coffee, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
But he was no longer there. Just like before.
Then one day I walked into the cafe, and there he was.
A woman in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
At first, I didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a clean, ironed shirt and jeans. His face was clean-shaven, and without the beard, he looked at least twenty years younger.
He smiled when he saw me.
“Hey, Spencer,” he said. “I have a lot of catching up to do. But I’m back at the hospital now.”
A man standing in a cafe | Source: Midjourney
I stared at him, stunned.
“Did you go back?”
He nodded.
“Your words that day, and saving that woman? It reminded me why I became a doctor. It’s time I honor my wife and daughter the way they deserve. By doing what I was born to do.”
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
I smiled at him.
“I’m glad,” I said. “I’m really, really glad, Dr. Swan.”
“Come on, let me buy you a coffee this time,” he said.
We had a cup of coffee together. After that, I saw him again in passing, but he went back to saving lives, as he had always intended.
Two cups of coffee on a counter | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
Read also: I married a homeless man to please my parents – A month later, I came home and was shocked by what I saw
This work is inspired by real events and people, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the story. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims regarding the accuracy of events or character portrayals and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and the opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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