The room was quiet, with a circle of chairs on the wooden floor, two or three already occupied. The men already seated looked disheveled and unkempt, one guy looking only at his feet, the other wearing a well worn beige anorak with his gloves on a string through the sleeves of his jacket, wearing sandals with odd colored socks.

I took my seat, put my groceries bag under the chair, and nodded self consciously to the guy with the clipboard. We sat in silence.

Five minutes passed and two more sorry looking men joined the group.

After another few moments, the guy with the clipboard cleared his throat, "Right! well this looks like everyone, we will make a start. Who would like to go first?"

Nervously, everyone looked at everyone else, but with no sign of anything happening....

Mustering all the courage I had left, I struggled to my feet, took a deep breath, and said, feeling the red slowly extending from my cheeks to my entire face.....

" Hello. My name is Mike. " I struggled to get the words out, but spoke clearly looking straight at the floor..........



"And I voted Obama....."