sam had yellow eyes

for some reason driving in this a.m. i thought of a co-worker i had in the past. i was 16 working practically in the ghetto in harvey, il. sam was a black guy who worked as a porter. he was pretty rough. he was in his 30s. i was intimidated by him at first but as weeks passed he and i became buds. he was big into the mary jane, and alcohol i would later find out, and would come back to keep me company asking if i wanted a hit or just to chat. at times i think he was sort of watching out for me. i worked at night and on weekends. he'd walk me to my car at night. i was happy for that. people were shot and mugged in the streets surrounding the place, i wouldn't say regularly, but enough.
sam was a street smart guy. he had a couple of kids. i think the mom, from what i picked up, just got out of control on drugs. sam and his kids lived with his sister a few miles from the dealership we worked at. i gave him a ride home sometimes. i'd pull up and his sister would be there waiting for him with his kids. you could tell they were tight and didn't want any part of the whole thug thing.
sam was never into gangs- he was a really good person who just couldn't pull out of his circumstances. sam was an alcoholic. he became more and more trapped by this addiction as the year went by. he'd ask me for a few bucks now and then and he'd always pay me back. he used to say just this last time i promise. i knew it wouldn't be, but that was cool. people are who they are and there wasn't anything i could do to make him stop.
he disappeared one day. i think someone told me he was let go, fired. i'm sure he was caught stealing.
i missed him a lot when he left. he came into say hi a few months later, i was super happy to see him. told me to take care of myself. i never saw him again after that.
i don't know what made me think of him this morning.