Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:


> OTOH, I recall a time a few years ago in Amsterdam that this American
> kid approached the DH and me, saying he just needed $20 to be able to
> buy air fare back to the states. The kid was giving off a vibe, so I
> just pushed my sunglasses down my nose and said, "Does this work very
> often for you?" He just grinned and said, "Uh-huh."


When we were in Montreal a few years ago I saw the beggars get an early
start. It was about 8:45 am when a nice Audi pulled up and two men with
nice leather jackets and lots of gold chains opened up the truck to get
a couple of milk crates and signs out of the trunk. Two raggedly dressed
women got out of the back seat and set up shop. The sign said something
like Please Help Us. They obviously made a pretty well in the begging
business.

It was like an incident reported in Toronto a few years ago about the
"Shaky Lady", a pathetic old wretch with tremors who was begging on the
streets. Some reporter took an interest in the poor old woman and wanted
to write about her plight. The woman was not willing to talk and the
reporter got suspicious. At the end of the day a luxury car pulled up
to pick her up. The tremor disappeared. The reporter followed them to a
luxury house in the suburbs.