Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (50 page)

"Hello," he said.

"Hello," we both responded.

We continued walking until we reached a coffee shop, not giving
much thought to the homeless man. It is the sort of thing that you run
into on any big-city street. Later, as we walked back from the coffee
shop, I noticed that the bench where the homeless man had been sitting
was empty.

We took a different route back to Alex's apartment so that he could
take in the air and sunshine a bit more. He stopped at a record shop on
the corner and looked around for a bit. He bought a few CDs and we
continued on our way.

We walked another block and noticed the same homeless man sitting
on another bench in our path. As we approached, he looked right at
Alex and said, "It's a real bear when you stray off the path sometimes,
isn't it, son? But now that you're back on it, you'll be fine."

Alex and I looked at each other in amazement and continued walking. After several steps, we turned around and saw that the homeless
man was gone. He was nowhere in sight! I turned to my son and said,
"You know who that was, right?"

Alex looked into my eyes, smiled and answered, "Yes, Mom, it was an
angel."

I smiled back and we continued home.