“When a black homeless man runs into a wedding, he jumps at the opportunity to grab the mic and sing. Everyone is shocked, but then this happens: Before anyone could stop him, the black homeless man ran towards the stage and grabbed the mic. At first, the band looked unsure of what to do, but this was an important gig for them, and when they recognized what the man was singing, they began to play along.
The initial confusion of the crowd seemed to melt away with every word the man sang, and soon everyone was back in their seats, listening intently. The previous singer had been terrible, so anything would have been an improvement, but the black homeless man’s voice was like nothing anyone had heard before. The sweet notes coming from him didn’t match his scruffy, worn-out appearance, and although no one could understand what someone like him was doing up on the stage singing, no one wanted to stop him either.
When the first song came to an end, everyone stood up and cheered, chanting for more. Some people dabbed their eyes as the man’s beautiful voice had reduced them to tears. Seeing how happy everyone seemed to be, the man decided to sing a second song. Soon, people were on the dance floor, slowly dancing to the man’s amazing voice. He was overjoyed that they were appreciating his singing. But when he spotted a beautiful young woman in a wedding dress, he realized this wasn’t just a normal Saturday evening in a restaurant — he’d run into a wedding party.
He almost fell from the stage in shock when he saw the bride dance to his music. He had been worried that they would kick him out, and yet everybody seemed to appreciate him. This was a far cry from the moment he’d woken up that morning. He had stretched out in his sleeping bag, thinking about the day ahead of him. It was always the same: begging for a little bit of money to get something to eat and drink and being ignored by most people.
There were occasionally some kind people who would bring him a hot drink and a sandwich, but they were few and far between. Most people liked to pretend he didn’t exist, and he couldn’t really blame them. Growing up, Anton had never imagined that this was how his life would turn out. He’d always enjoyed singing, and his mom had always told him what a beautiful voice he had, but he never quite believed her.
He did seem to have a special talent for remembering songs though, and could sing almost anything that anyone requested. But as he got older, he fell in with a tough group, and singing wasn’t the cool thing to do anymore. He began smoking and drinking, and before long, he was getting caught up in petty crimes, much to his mother’s despair.
By the time he’d reached his late teens, Anton’s crimes had escalated. He and most of his friends had now joined a gang, and smoking and drinking were soon mixed with drugs too. There were times that Anton felt trapped, but leaving the gang wasn’t an option, and so he continued to live his life of crime until he met a beautiful girl named Sasha.
Before long, the young man had fallen madly in love with her. He knew Sasha deserved the world, but he couldn’t give it to her. So slowly, behind her back, Anton returned to his old ways. It was the only way he could make lots of money to give Sasha a good life, but when she found out what he was doing, she threatened to leave him.
She tried to explain that she was happy with him and she didn’t need lots of money or a big fancy house, but Anton still felt like he wasn’t good enough for her. One evening, he was preparing to be involved in a big robbery. It was set to make the gang huge amounts of money, and Anton’s cut would be pretty substantial. It was nothing he hadn’t done before, and he felt confident they’d be able to pull it off.
But no one knew that there was an informant in the gang, and the police had been tipped off. Everyone involved in the robbery was arrested, but things were far worse for Anton. Not only was he arrested at the scene of the crime, but he was also found with a huge stash of drugs on him which he’d been planning to sell.
Throughout the trial, Sasha came to court every day, but when Anton received his prison sentence, she knew she couldn’t spend the next 10 years visiting him in prison. Her heart was broken, but she told Anton she was cutting all ties with him. Years passed by, and not a day passed that Anton didn’t think of Sasha and the terrible mistakes he’d made to drive her away.
He’d ruined his whole life, but 5 years into his sentence, his life got even harder. Anton was involved in a fight which resulted in a head injury. Although he recovered, he found that a lot of his memories were now patchy. All the memories he’d got of Sasha seemed to mix and blur into one, and he could no longer remember all the details about the relationship.
He found himself slipping into a darker place. He had no idea what would happen when he was released from prison. Then, Anton was released. Ten years was a long time to spend in prison, and with his criminal record and patchy memory, he found it hard to adjust to the outside world. No one wanted to give him a job, and without it, he couldn’t afford a place to live.
He soon found himself living on the streets and begging for food and money. There was only one thing that kept him going, and it was singing. During the day, he would often find parks to sit in, and to pass the time, he would quietly sing to himself. Singing seemed to help him remember certain things, as though he linked certain songs with events in his life.
He may not be able to remember all the details of his life, but he had no trouble remembering the words to songs. On the nights when he climbed into his sleeping bag with his stomach rumbling from hunger, he would sing himself to sleep, holding back tears for how his life had ended up.
One Saturday evening, out of desperation, Anton decided to head into the city center. He usually stuck to the outskirts where things were a little quieter, but he hadn’t eaten in a long time, and he was hopeful that if he positioned himself near some of the popular restaurants, then he might get some food or money.
It had worked for him before; people would leave a restaurant with some of their leftovers, and occasionally they would give them to him. But the city center could be dangerous for a homeless person, so he didn’t want to hang around for too long. He found a spot near a bunch of popular restaurants and settled down.
Begging for food and money made him uncomfortable, but when he’d been released from prison, he’d vowed not to go back to his old life. He couldn’t remember all the details, but he knew he’d hurt a lot of people. So he made a promise to himself that he would never steal from anyone again; he would only accept money and food if people willingly gave it to him.
An hour passed, and Anton still hadn’t been offered any food. He’d been given a few cents from people passing by, but it wasn’t enough to even get a sandwich and a drink. The later it got, the more at risk
he knew he was putting himself. Drunk people on a weekend were the worst kind of people to encounter as a homeless person.
He decided to wait just 1 hour, then he would leave. But just then, a drunk man staggered out of the closest restaurant. As the door swung open, Anton could hear someone inside singing very badly. At first, Anton was on edge at the appearance of the drunk man, but he didn’t even seem to notice him.
He lit a cigarette and fumbled in his pocket for his phone. Without even glancing at the homeless man just a couple of feet away from him, subconsciously, Anton began to sing to himself quietly. Singing always calmed his nerves, but now that he had gone into his own little world, Anton didn’t notice the drunk man staggering over to him.
By the time Anton had registered that the man was close by, it was too late for him to move away. The man slumped up against the wall and asked him what he was singing. Anton tentatively replied and explained to the man that he could remember the words to hundreds of songs. The man laughed and told Anton he had a beautiful voice.
“You’re a much better singer than the guy in there,” he slurred, pointing back towards the restaurant. The homeless man was taken aback. He wasn’t used to people chatting to him, let alone being nice to him. The drunk man finished his cigarette and asked Anton how he’d ended up homeless. When he finished his story, the man pulled out his wallet and took out a wad of cash.
“Take this,” he told Anton. The homeless man was shocked. There was no way he could accept that amount of money, so he shook his head. The drunk man was insistent though and explained that even though he’d had a few drinks, he knew what he was doing and how much money he was handing over.
He jokingly told Anton that he should take the money and then go and sing a song in the restaurant. “Take this, sing a song, then go and get a good meal, you certainly look like you could do with one,” he said. Reluctantly, Anton accepted the money and watched as the man staggered back into the restaurant.
He knew the man was drunk, but he’d planted an idea in his head. What if he could get inside the restaurant and sing? It had been a long time since anyone had told him he’d got a beautiful voice, and distant memories of his mom had come flooding back to him. But memories of Sasha were there too; she would always ask him to sing for her.
Tears sprung up into Anton’s eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. He had to get inside the restaurant. Unfortunately, there was a guard outside of the restaurant, and Anton knew he didn’t stand a chance of getting inside looking the way he did. He looked down at the wad of cash in his hand and suddenly had an idea.
Shoving a few dollars into his back pocket, just enough to get him a sandwich and a drink later, Anton approached the guard and asked him to let him inside, handing over the large amount of cash. The guard looked him up and down, but then saw the money and shrugged. He took the cash and stood aside to let him in.
The homeless man couldn’t believe his plan had actually worked. Now that he was inside the restaurant, he was overwhelmed with the smell of delicious food, the warmth, and the chatter of everyone inside. He scanned around the room and noticed how busy it was, and suddenly his plan seemed insane.
But the singer was coming to the end of a song, and Anton was once again struck by just how terrible his voice was. He noticed people pulling faces and whispering to one another; clearly, they all thought he was terrible too. Before anyone could question what someone like him was doing inside such a nice restaurant, the black homeless man ran towards the stage and grabbed the mic.
The restaurant suddenly fell quiet as everyone took in the scruffy-looking man with worn-out clothes who was now standing on the stage with trembling hands. Anton raised the mic to his mouth and began to sing. The band had been paid a lot of money for this gig, and since the singer had seriously let them down, they were worried that they were going to have to refund the money.
But now there was a man on stage who had an amazing voice and could save them all. As soon as the band recognized what Anton was singing, they joined in. Everyone watched the homeless man in awe; he had the most beautiful voice they’d ever heard, and some people were now wiping away tears as they sat hooked on every word he sang.
Every time he finished a song, the crowd asked for more. Anton noticed people filming him on their phones and couldn’t believe how much they all seemed to be enjoying his performance. After an hour of singing, Anton was approached by an older man in a very smart suit.
He explained that he was the father of the bride and had been furious with the terrible singer that had been performing. He told Anton that he’d been ready to kick him out when he’d run towards the stage, but when he heard him sing, he was blown away. He thanked Anton for making the wedding party an amazing experience for his daughter and then handed the homeless man a huge wad of cash.
Little did Anton know that everyone who’d been filming him had shared their videos of the mystery homeless man with an amazing voice on social media, and by the next morning, some of those videos were already viral. However, he didn’t own a phone and knew nothing of his newfound fame.
Still, the next few days were very surreal for him. First, he was able to get a good meal for the first time in months. Singing in the restaurant had spurred him on to really change his life, and now that he had a full stomach, he decided to make a plan for a better future.
But Anton’s life was already changing without him even knowing it. Two weeks after singing at the wedding, he found himself back in the city near the restaurant he’d sung in. He looked inside at the people eating and remembered that night when he’d felt like himself again.
He was just about to walk away when someone came rushing out of the restaurant and stopped him, asking if he was the homeless guy who had sung at the wedding. Anton nodded and asked the man how he knew. The man explained that he was the owner of the restaurant.
He hadn’t been around on the night Anton had sung, but he’d heard all about it from his staff, and he’d seen the videos. Anton looked confused, so the restaurant owner pulled out his phone and showed him several clips of him singing. He told the homeless man that the videos had gone viral and had been seen by people all over the world.
Anton was in shock, but there was soon to be another surprise for him. The restaurant owner asked him to come and sing in his restaurant every weekend. The homeless man looked down at his clothes and his dirty nails and hung his head in shame. He couldn’t afford new clothes or an apartment with a shower yet, and he certainly couldn’t work in these conditions.
But the restaurant owner had a plan. He told Anton that he could get cleaned up in the apartment above the restaurant, which he also owned, and there would be nice clothes available for him each weekend. He told him that he had to take a chance on the man
who had mesmerized the world with his voice and that if Anton could prove that he was willing to change his life, then the restaurant owner would rent the apartment to him.
Anton couldn’t believe it. This was everything he’d been dreaming of. The first weekend Anton performed, the restaurant was packed. Word had quickly spread that he would be singing there, and everyone wanted to see him for themselves.
Week after week, Anton proved that he was ready to change his life, and a month after hiring him, the restaurant owner handed him the keys to the apartment. By now, other restaurants in town were also booking Anton to perform during the week, so he had no problems paying the rent.
He had to pinch himself to check that his new amazing life was actually real. Two months into performing, Anton took the stage at the restaurant and captivated his audience as usual. But as he scanned the room in between songs, he got a huge shock.
Sat in the corner was a familiar face; the woman had tears pouring down her face. Anton almost dropped the mic in shock when he recognized Sasha. He had thought he would never see her again and had even forgotten most of her features with his amnesia, but there was no doubt in his heart; this was the woman he had loved long ago.
After the show, Anton rushed over to Sasha’s table and hugged her tightly. The pair spent the rest of the night in his apartment, talking and catching up. Sasha told him that she’d never been able to move on with anyone else because he’d always been the love of her life.
When she’d seen the videos of him singing, she’d been shocked to hear he’d been homeless and knew she had to find him. Slowly but surely, the pair got to know each other again, realizing that they’d never stopped loving one another.
Anton’s life had completely changed. Where he’d once been homeless and alone, he now had a nice apartment, a career, and Sasha back in his life. He’d vowed to turn his life around, and with the help of a few good people, he’d done just that.
