At South Station Bus Terminal, an elegant ceiling skylight looks down upon travelers as they scurry up the escalator. It looks like the all-seeing eye. Tucked in a nearby corner, a homeless man is sleeping.
On the train station platform, a man with a cane naps under a Greater Boston Food Bank photo of a bountiful Thanksgiving. It reads, “Give the Gift of Holiday Meals.”
Justin, a soft-spoken man from Brockton who doesn’t want his full name used, recently suffered a stroke and needs a place to live. He had been turned away at a Boston shelter.
“No room,” he says.
Nearby an elderly woman under a pile of blankets at the fringe of the station works crossword puzzles. She denies needing anything or being hungry.
“The police take care of me,” she says before shooing away a photographer.
One police officer says he’s seen an uptick in the number of homeless people here since the tents were removed from the Mass. and Cass.
This Thanksgiving, 55.4 million Americans will travel according to AAA. More people are traveling by air — up 6 percent since last year.
“People want to spend more time with their families,” says AAA Northeast spokesman Mark Schieldrop.
On a multiple-day tour of Boston’s South Station’s train and bus terminals, and Logan International Airport, encouraging signs of hope could be seen. One ticket seller says there’s just a better vibe here this holiday season — as long as you don’t talk politics. At South Station’s Amtrak area, the Red Caps say tips lately have been good. The Dunkin’ staff at Logan, Terminal B agree.
If you want to see joy, head to the International Terminal E at Logan Airport. It might lead all other New England travel locations in hugs. People who travel longer, hug longer.
In Terminal C, however, not all people are waiting for planes.
Eric McDonald, 59 naps on a bench. He says he was a writer for an investment firm, got in an accident, turned to alcohol, and has been homeless for five years. He’s been in and out of halfway houses ever since. He’s divorced and has no family left alive. All his belongings are in a bag. A state trooper politely tells him he has to leave, but says he can use the lavatory first.
McDonald says he has been invited to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving. “But I can’t show up like this,” he says.
“Homelessness is not just people looking to bilk the system,” he says.
“I’m college educated (Northeastern). I come from family. I’m a man who just fell on hard times and I had nowhere else to turn.”
He doesn’t want pity, and he refuses to ever ask for money.
“Every day I see the milk of human kindness,” says the former Marshfield resident. “People stop and they will bend down and say ‘do you need something?’ It’s heartwarming.”
He says he has a holiday wish he’d like to offer.
“Enjoy your family. It’s a blessing that you won’t realize until it’s gone. Enjoy your blessings, because if you wake up on this side of the dirt today, you’re still ahead of the game.”
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com.