Homeless Encyclopedia

When we were in Belize City the other day we were approached by a barefoot elderly man in the dark. He started telling us the names of the U.S. state capitals and and other information about each state. He quoted Thomas Payne, the Monroe Doctrine, the Articles of Confederation and knew more about the founders of America than we did. He said a friend sent him books from the Smithsonian library and he memorized everything he read. He explained the difference between commonwealth and colonial status (Belize and Canada share the former), something I'd always been a bit confused by. We tried to stump him on world capitals when we couldn't get him on states and he only missed one of the Stans, Tajekistan maybe. There was some confusion over the capital of United Arab Emirates, because its a confederation of several nations. He even knew the tough ones, like Iceland.

"What about Antarctica?" I said.

"Ah, ha, ha ha! I don't think so!" he said, wagging his finger at me.

While we talked somebody drove by in a truck and said, "Hey Encyclopedia!"

The man said, "that is what they call me."

Then the cops rolled by and yelled something. "They don't like me," the Encyclopedia said.

He told us that the trick to remembering anything is to think it silently to yourself seven times, say it out loud seven times, then form a mental association between the subject and and something else you already know. He demonstrated the technique with our names. He closed his eyes and placed his fingers at his temples in a look of deep contemplation.

"Stacy, Stacy, Stacy, Stacy, Stacy, Stacy, Stacy... Ah! Got it!" Next was my turn. "Juistin, Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin, Justin." He smiled and nodded.

Then came Sarah. But he must not have heard correctly because he said a different name each time. "Sarah, Cara, Lara--"

"--Uh, its just Sarah," Sarah said.

"Ah, okay."

We all shared a laugh and the Encyclopedia told us his name was Harry and he was homeless because the owner of the house where he lived destroyed his home. A woman was letting him sleep on the porch of the internet cafe see owned in the tourist safe zone, Fort George in Belize City. We gave him five dollar coins and he inspected them all, carefully looking over each one, turning them over in his hands. He became thoughtful, and then said that this would get him two meals. He didn't ask for anything. We shook hands and said goodbye after he quizzed us some more about where we were staying.