washing money (not to be confused with money laundering)

since i started volunteering for homeless youth in phoenix, i have definitely broadened my horizons in terms of the people i get to see and meet. one of the stranger meetings with a (presumably) homeless person occurred last night as my volunteer partner and i were about to leave the outreach center. as we were pulling out, she noticed that someone was hunched over at the water hose, using the water.

we then pulled over to stop this unauthorized use of water. on my questioning on what he was doing, the homeless guy replied "i'm washing my money" as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. as i looked closer i saw that he was indeed washing a handful of coins stored in a plastic bag. we explained that the water was not free for public use and then turned off the tap. my partner then pointed towards a hydrant spraying water just across the street for him to use instead.

when he saw the gushing water from the hydrant, his eyes lit up. without any sort of regard to his personal safety he rode his shopping cart across the five lane street with cars whizzing by him from both directions. somehow he made it across without incident and proceeded to jump around and play in the water as if it were a hot summer day (which it was not). interesting people.