Seventy-Two Year Long Strange Trip

If you're a regular at Green Apple you've probably seen this guy hanging around our free bins. Among the staff here he is affectionately know as 'The Rev.' I've never been told his real name, and honestly I kind of don't want to know. He is The Rev forever in my head and has been a part of "the Green Apple ecosystem" for longer than I even know.

Aside from just being a generally nice guy, The Rev is always dropping in the store with helpful information. For example if he sees a notorious shoplifter in the neighborhood (yes, sadly there are a few scumbag regulars that have chosen us as a target), we're clued in asap. If we need to bring our tarps out to protect our bin books from the rain, same deal. I've heard a few people complain that he monopolizes the free stuff, and yeah, on a day where he pulls a "full shift" out in front of the store his hauls are huge. Y'know what though? It's not a crime to take advantage of a good thing to its fullest. To justify our liking for him even further though here's a story that I was told last winter, just after Christmas-

I had asked The Rev how he'd been doing for the holiday season. Cooley, he replied that it had been good, and that he made enough from reselling our free books just in time to carry on his usual Christmas tradition. When I asked him to elaborate he told me, "Well, a lot of kids in my building don't have a whole lot going on for them in the way of family Christmas sort of stuff, so I get my Santa Claus costume on and take 'em all out to pizza, which is tough 'cause twenty-five kids shouting for pizza and pounding the tables in a restaurant can be kind of difficult... it's good to see though." I'm told the bill tends to run him close to four hundred dollars or so.

Anyhow, the reason I'm putting the spotlight on The Rev today is because I just learned that this coming Thursday the twenty-second is his seventy-second birthday. So if you happen to see him out on Clement wish him a good one. I will. I'd also like to note that during the writing of this post The Rev popped in to tell us that there was a rainbow outside. I'm not kidding about that.