"Coffee soothes nerves of troubled men"

A long line of men waiting to be fed every day was right across the street from my house. As a boy, I would stand there watching, trying to understand. Why would my father be there and not at home? I wondered. He left the house before I was born, but would visit us every now and then. I remember thinking he loved to drink and live on the street more than he loved me. I also thought I would never be like my father, because he was weak. I hated him for that.