The businessman got out of his silver Saab and quickly locked its doors. He walked through the parking lot and made his way to the sidewalk, walking briskly to the office building a block away.

He knew he would be the first one there, so he dug into his pocket on the right side of his pants and found his keychain. The key with the blue plastic cap on it would open the front door.

As he crossed the street and approached the office building, he looked at the bench in front of it. It was a bench provided by the company for its employees who smoke. Beside the bench was an ashtray. Both the bench and ashtray were bolted to the sidewalk.

On the bench a man was sleeping. An old dirty blanket, brown in color, covered the man's face and body. The man's feet were left exposed. His shoes were full of holes. He wasn't wearing any socks.

The businessman jingled his keys and made a lot of noise when unlocking the front door. He thought it would wake the man on the bench, a signal for the bum to leave. He began to stir.

The businessman walked into the elevator and pressed the button for floor five. He shook his head, thinking to himself that at least the vagrant was asleep and he didn't have to contend with the guy asking for money.

He checked his e-mail and voice messages and then decided to head to the deli around the corner for a cup of coffee.

He was surprised to find the homeless person still sleeping on the bench. Without wanting to, he could now see some of the old man's face. His beard was long and mostly white. His unkempt hair was almost down to his shoulders and mostly grey. His closed eyes looked sunken into his head. He smelled of urine.

Feeling angry, the businessman locked the door to the office building again and made his way to the deli. He complained to the waitress about the tramp and vented his frustrations about how city council does nothing to keep these people off the streets and away from decent people.

When he returned with his coffee, the old man was still asleep on the bench.

The businessman called the police.

"There's a bum asleep on the bench outside our building."

"Is he causing any harm?"

"No, not yet, but the guy stinks and will be intimidating to customers and employees who have business here."

"Have you tired to wake him?"

"No! It's not my job to get involved with waking him up. He needs to be removed from our property. It's your job to protect us from these kinds of people."

He waited in the lobby until the cops arrived. Occasionally he peeked out the front door to see if the tramp was still there.

When the squad car pulled up and parked, the businessman walked outside and waited for the policemen to approach him.

"This is the man we need removed from our property," he said, pointing to the person on the bench. "My employees and customers will be arriving here soon."

Without answering him, the taller, older cop went up to the bench and gently shook the old man.

"Sir? Sir? It's time to wake up. You need to leave this property."

The old man started to stir a little but still wasn't awake.

The younger cop said to the businessman, "Charlie's being too nice. I'll get the old man's attention."

He approached the bench and the older cop stood aside. The younger cop removed the dirty blanket covering the old man and lifted him to a sit-up position while slapping his face.

"Wake up!" he said, almost shouting, "it's time to move on."

The homeless man opened his eyes and the businessman looked at him. The bum looked familiar.

The young cop continued to slap the homeless person's face and the old man became startled.

"What? Please! I haven't done anything."

The young cop lifted the old man to his feet and threw him against the building, then started searching his pockets.

"Hey! What's this? You got a little joint rolled up here in your back pocket? That ain't good, sir."

The young cop put the homeless person's hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

When the old man turned around, the businessman looked at him. He looked like a co-worker from years back. He wanted to say something to the bum, but didn't know what.

The cops led the man to the squad car and put him in the back seat. The cops asked for the businessman's name and phone number. After he gave them the information, the policemen got in their squad car and quickly drove away.

He looked at the bench. The dirty brown blanket was still on it.

The businessman returned to his office and stared at the paper cup holding his now almost cold coffee.

"Was that Grant?" he said out loud, remembering an older co-worker he worked with at a consulting firm years ago.

He drank his coffee quickly and started to feel irritated that his day was getting off to a late start.

"Was that him?" he thought to himself again. "What in the hell went wrong?"

The businessman opened his planner and started to look at some papers in his basket.

"This is going to be a busy day," he murmured as he tried to remember Grant's last name.