from a pen to a prayer

'hey man.'
'morning, brother, how you doin?' i asked.

'good, just gettin my girl a pen.'  he walked to his car with purpose and i thought, 'alrighty then.  7:50 in the morning and a pen is priority i guess.'  all this went through my mind as i felt the pen in my pocket, one of my pens...i'm kind of anal when it comes to my pens.  i get specific kinds of pens that i enjoy using and i give mandy junk whenever she tells me to get her wallet out of her purse and i find one of my pens there...
'this your job?' he asked as he backed towards his car interrupting my pen dilemma.
'yeah man.'
'they hiring?'
'not here, but maybe at some of their other properties.'
'they hire fe...'
'what?'
'they hire felons?'
'i don't know their policy.'
he shrugged and made it to the car and began digging around for a pen, clearly not surprised or even disappointed by my response.  seemed to be something he almost expected to hear...of course there would be a policy regarding felons, of which he was classified.  meanwhile, my pen is still stuck in my pocket begging to be given away...alright, alright, you got it Lord.
'you find one?'
'wha?'
'here man.'
'nah man, she needs it.'
'its ok, i got other pens at home.'
'cool...i just got out ya know, about a 1.5-2 years ago.'  he shared how he completed his bid, without getting anything additional, just did his time, his job on the inside and even went to school while inside.  he then began to share about the job he held for a year, he had earned full benefits even...and then, after a year of employment, they ran his background check.  they at least continued his benefits for six months. 'you know anyone who hires felons?'  i tell him of a church around the corner and their non-profit that hires high school kids and guys out of prison...wishing i could give a definite response, or walk him through the process somewhere, or hire him myself.  we chatted some more about an apt that had said to him, you and your girl can move in here, then ran a background check and said she can stay, but he can't...
'well, i'll let ya get back to work.'
'i'm nick man, what's your name.'
'i'm e_____.'  we did the one hand shake-hug thats a commonplace greeting and i said, 'lemme pray real quick.'  as we finished praying and we did the hand shake-hug we heard...'i want in. brothers, i want in'
Up walks a woman who lives around the corner and works at the local elementary school.  she's on her way to court to be with her daughter who's in 'a little bit of something that starts with an s and ends with a t and could be headed to prison' she tells us through tears.   so we grab hands...and e______ begins to pray for her...praying as best as he knows how, and its beautiful....
Around 3:30 in the afternoon, i head to her house, ring the doorbell and she smiles as she answers...no prison, probation with community service that can get reduced if she goes after that GED.  she's so happy as she looks at me and says, 'prayer works.'  oh, and she's Buddhist....