"COME ONE, COME ALL. HEAR WHAT IS TO BE SAID." A small crowd had started gathering, based on the loud voice of the random man who had climbed atop a soap box. Cars passed by, but pedestrians started approaching the ever-growing group. Arturo hovered by the back of the crowd, wondering what was causing so much commotion when the man's words rang out. 

"Don't you all wonder how it is things have come this far?" The man wiped his nose with the back of his hand and sniffled. "You all stink!! This whole thing stinks!" 

The crowd started muttering, and looking among themselves, obviously something the man had said had stirred them. A young girl in the audience pushed to the front of the crowd and yelled back, "Well if we stink so much, why don't you, old man?"

The old man's demeanor shifted appreciatively, "Why thank you missy, for asking such a lovely question. This menace of society has got to end. You all know what I'm talking about!!"

The non-answer to the girl's question went unnoticed as the crowd once more turned within themselves and pondered the answer to his question. The mass of citizens had grown substantially since the man's first cries for attention, but not one of them seemed to have the knowledge required to reply. Time seemed as though to slow, and a moderate silence drifted through the street before the man seemed to decide to speak again.

"Surely you must know what I speak of. I am but a man of the common people, as you are! I have traveled many days, and to many cities where desolation has occurred, yet I still see hope for you lot."

A dark hush fell over the crowd as fear reached the corners of many of their faces. But at the mention of hope, their eyes brightened. 

"So what is it, then?" A loud and pronounced Irishman asked for the betterment of the crowd, and to speed up the process to allow the group back to their regular day. The crowd nodded in agreement with the question. They wanted to know.

"Do you really want to know?" The old man asked. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "I'll tell you alright..."

"The new Lever Brothers Company's Lifebuoy Health Soap! It will save you from desolation! The filth and grime of daily labor washes right off in the face of this dauntless new adversary of dirt. You there, girl, take some soap! Tell your friends!"

The man stepped down from his soapbox to open up another soapbox and toss some soap into the crowd. "You get soap, and you get soap! This one's free, you'll see how much it changes your life!"

The crowd, which had been waiting in such anticipation, all exhaled simultaneously. They had been so used to orators and doomsayers that this soap man had taken them by surprise. The crowd had paused, trying to understand what just happened, before hearing the echo of an actual doomsayers voice on the opposite street corner and shuffling towards him like moths to a flame.

Arturo stood where he had before the crowd had moved. "I'll take a crate." The old man stopped to look at him, and seeing where the voice had come from, a smile grew on his face before he pointed down to where a few other soap crates sat. 

Arturo left the corner with a large crate of soap, trying his best not to walk into somebody with it.