How does he survive?
So yesterday, the plan was for my little brother to leave his friend's place in DC, take the metro to meet me in Alexandria after I get off from work, and then we could leave together to go to Great Falls. When I had dropped him off in DC a couple of days before, I had checked with him specifically to make sure that he had enough money on him for the metro. Yes, yes, yes, he did. Was his phone charged? Yes, yes, yes it was.

So yesterday, I'm waiting at home when I hear someone yell for me outside. It was Erik. Of course his phone had run out of batteries. But, could he call me from the metro station using a 35 cent payphone? No, because he had no money left. In fact, he had to borrow money from his friends for the metro ride over to my place, and that still wasn't enough so he had to BEG for money from passersby in the metro. That's right, he panhandled. I asked him how many people he asked, and apparently he had to ask a lot. It was only someone "old" who ended up giving him a couple of quarters for him to get out of the station. Actually, that wasn't enough either, so that same person saw him haplessly standing inside the station still and asked him if he was still short, and he had to sheepishly admit that he was and then accept a bit more money. For a $3.00 fare.

So how did he manage to spend the $10 that he had on him when he left our house? He and his friends went to Steak and Egg right before he got onto the metro. So, even if he couldn't get home, at least he was well-fed.