Since I spend my days at work, the only time that I’m around Tent City during the daytime is on the weekends. Saturday at Tent City it was hot, windy, and dusty. There is not much relief in the way of shade and the dust really blows. Many seek shelter in the Administration Building from the wind and the dust which, in my opinion, is a worse enemy than the heat. The Administration Building has central air conditioning that provides a reprieve from the heat to those who want it. The heat doesn’t seem to bother some residents as long as they can find some shade. I sit in the shade with an elderly woman everyone calls Miss Mary who is one of the sweetest old women I’ve ever known. Miss Mary is probably in her seventies, and I know that she has diabetes, and probably a host of other health problems. She is weak and walks slowly, but the residents of Tent City all keep a close eye on her, including Alabama. Miss Mary is always sure to be stocked with ice and water that she keeps in a cooler in her tent delivered daily by a concerned citizen. She keeps a garden on the side of the Administration Building that has some melons and squash growing now. There is never a shortage of volunteers helping Miss Mary water her garden, and even the toughest residents have walked her back to her tent when the wind is blowing too hard. I don’t know how she makes it some days in the heat and I wonder if she would accept a spot in an assisted living facility should she be offered one. I know that she would be a hoarder if given a spot in a place such as that, always taking crackers and sugar from the dining room and knocking on people’s doors to collect their empty cans. I guess it’s better than knocking on doors and asking for spare medication which is what I’m sure many of our peers would do if given the chance.
I head to the Salvation Army at 4:00 to take a shower. This is something Alabama told me about during the day. Anyone can show up at the Salvation Army between 4:00 and 5:00 in the evening to shower, but they are not allowed back in the dorm area after dinner unless they are staying the night at the facility. I take my shower and sit in the TV room with some other guys who are staying there. I see Wendell and Blackie, but they don’t act like they remember me. I've found that it takes quite a bit of time for the homeless to warm to new people because people are always coming and going. Wendell is eating a Little Debbie cake and watching a “dumb criminal” show on TV. I keep waiting to see Blackie on TV stealing cases of feminine hygiene products from a grocery store but he never shows. Wendell gets disgusted by a criminal who fired a gun at another person and labels the criminal a coward. “What happened to fightin’ wif yo fists?!” he asks no one in particular. I’m hoping Wendell will be on my side when I raise up an army to liberate the captives from the Salvation Army.
I head to a soup kitchen downtown after my shower for dinner. I like this place the minute I walk in. Everyone is in high spirits as we’re all assigned seats and brought plates of fried chicken. A couple of people have brought their dogs with them and they’ve left them tied outside. During the middle of the meal, a volunteer announces that the owners of the dogs should go split the dogs up unless they want a bunch of puppies running around. Everyone looks to see one dog mounted on another and everyone roars with laughter including the volunteers. I’ve always thought that no one in the world can keep from laughing at this sight, and I’m one step closer to confirming that. “Your dog’s humpin’ theirs!!” one guy shouts and we’re all struck with another wave of laughter. I decide that I like this place with or without the canine mating show.
After dinner, I head back to Tent City and sit near the Administration Building with some other residents. Apparently on Friday, two of the younger people (a guy and girl couple) were kicked out of Tent City. There was a pipe fashioned out of an old whiskey bottle found in their things, and they were given the boot. The couple are claiming that the pipe was not theirs and that they had gathered up an evicted resident’s tent near theirs and put it in the barn along with some trash of theirs. Tent City Management saw the pipe among their things and asked the two to leave. They show up this evening and tell Tent City Management that they will not leave because they were wrongfully convicted. The evicted resident whose tent the pair had gathered is with them and he says that the makeshift pipe was his. The three explain that the pipe isn't even functional and begin to spell out everything wrong with the smoking device, and what you need for a functional one. I can't wait until the cops arrive and hear this argument as Slim has just called them. They arrive a little while later and court is in session. The friend tells the cop that the smoking device was his, but that nothing was ever smoked out of it. He is issued a ticket for not having the correct address on his drivers license and asked to leave the property. The pair on trial are then quizzed by a cop about where they've been hanging out, and when they say that they've been at some parking garage, the cops ask if they are the ones who caused all the damage over there. "Wasn't us." they say. "That was T.J. and Rainbow." The cops say that they are looking for T.J. and Rainbow, and then tell the pair that they are allowed to stay at Tent City until eviction procedures are followed. This is probably for the best as the pair now have at least three new enemies who are in trouble with the law on account of them.
After things die down, some complaining starts about Miss Mary’s “man.” I have no idea who they are talking about as Miss Mary has been alone every time I see her and none of the residents seem to be surprised by this. A guy who is about twenty years old (dubbed “sweet cheeks” by some residents of Tent City because of his sexual orientation) goes on a long rant about Miss Mary’s man leaving her alone to fend for herself at Tent City while he goes and eats dinner at the shelters or walking around during the day. “He doesn’t even bring Miss Mary back a plate of food.” Sweet Cheeks says and everyone agrees that this is heinous. I find out that the man and Miss Mary have not been in a relationship long, and they don’t even share a tent. We all speculate aloud about what this man wants with Miss Mary, and I have a feeling he will get some pretty harsh treatment tonight when he arrives back from galavanting about like a single man.
A little while later, Miss Mary's man is back, and Alabama points him out to me. I recognize him as one of the guys who frequently gets drunk at the abandoned house. He was behind me in line today at the Salvation Army, wanting to take a shower. He's a white guy in his mid-sixties with a clean shaven face and a wiry build. He speaks with a greasy Texas twang, and he often laughs at his own jokes revealing that his molars all seem to be intact, but that he only has one incisor firmly planted right in the center of his upper jaw. I'm helping Miss Mary water her plants when he comes in, and he comes over to assist. He's pretty upset about something right now and he won't stop muttering to himself and cursing loudly. He comes over to me at one point and berates a resident saying that lies are being spread about him. I ask him what the problem is and he tells me that Alabama told a few of the managers that he was smoking dope on Tent City property. I immediately recognize this as a ploy by Alabama to get this man evicted from Tent City, but I know that it won't work. The man says that he will be waiting for Alabama outside the gates tonight, and I tell him that this probably isn't the best idea as it will get him evicted. He begins to calm down and introduces himself to me as Carl. Though I've never seen Carl mistreat Miss Mary, I'm still suspicious of his intentions and I decide to keep my distance. Later, I tell Alabama that it was a good plan to try and get rid of Carl and he laughs loudly at having been found out.
On Sunday afternoon, Pops and I sit outside the Administration Building in the heat and the dust. Pops tells me that he hasn't been sleeping well, never falling into a deep sleep. I decide not to tell him my theory that many older people have this problem because their bodies will be tricked into thinking that they are dead should their sleep become too heavy, and that they won't wake up (though I feel my logic is sound). Many residents are out today selling newspapers and Pops says that he didn't want to sell papers today in the heat. He remarks that he didn't sell enough papers last time to make the day's work worthwhile, but that he made $45 in tips alone. A few other residents have told me before that they usually make around $10 in tips, and it's clear that Pops makes more because he looks more homeless than many of the other residents. We talk for a little bit about the work conditions selling papers, and Pops tells me that some people will sell as few as twenty papers in a day (keeping seventy five cents of every paper they sell). I've learned that the homeless are not employed by the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, but by a third party who buys papers from the LAJ and then hires people to sell them. Another man joins mine and Pops's conversation, and he does not have nice things to say about the man who employs the salesmen. I learn that the third party contractor's name is Pete and he is not well liked by many. It seems those who sell papers on the high traffic corners do not have a problem with Pete since they can make almost $100 on a good day, but those who get the bad street corners have a lot of bad things to say. "He's a crook." is what this man tells me. We talk for a while about the adverse work conditions, and this man threatens to turn Pete in for not paying his employees minimum wage. I try to explain that the salesmen are independent contractors so the laws that govern Pete's work are different from traditional employers, but the man doesn't seem to understand. He tells me that he's certain Pete is breaking some law, but that nobody will turn him in because many of the homeless would lose their main source of income. This is probably true, and I ponder ways in which Pete can get what's coming to him.
Carl emerges from his tent and begins to walk towards the table where Pops and I are talking. Pops tells me that the church Carl goes to provided him with a new pair of shoes this morning. I'm wondering if the churchgoers have any inkling that their kindness to Carl should be counted as kindness to an enemy instead of kindness to a brother, and if the kindness is voided if the intention is misguided, but Pops says that he's happy for Carl so I drop it. I look at Pops's shoes, and it looks like he could use a new pair, too. Carl approaches us, and he is in a great mood. I begin to wonder if the kindness shown to Carl today will cause him to change his ways, but I soon realize that won't be the case. We speak for a while and Carl pulls out a cell phone. Pops admires it for a little bit and Carl tells him that Miss Mary bought it for him. I'm beginning to see what Carl could possibly want with Miss Mary. He proceeds to tell Pops and me some stories, and the way Pops's eyes light up when he laughs at Carl's seriously funny jokes almost make me want to forgive Carl's transgressions.
A female resident comes and sits with us, and Carl immediately starts in on making sexually suggestive remarks to her. I'm hoping she will become offended and turn him in for sexual harassment, but it becomes quickly clear that she is loving every minute of it, even encouraging it at times. I'm thankful when she finally leaves, and I guess Carl is too as he doesn't take his eyes off of her as she walks away. Shifting gears, Carl says that he's acquired some money today and that he wants Pops to go have a drink with him. Pops doesn't want to go even with Carl buying and Carl announces that he has a t-shirt that he wants Pops to have. He leaves to go get the shirt and Pops says that Carl's just trying to get him dressed up to go to the bar. "I ain't a-goin', though." he says to me "I jes don't feel lyke drankin'." Pops then tells me that Carl is always trying to dress him funny, but he won't expound upon this despite all of my efforts, and I imagine Pops in a tube top that says "Bad Girl." Carl arrives back with a t-shirt containing a list of various countries' policies for immigrants ranging from being shot for crossing the Afghan border to being forced into virtual slavery for entering Korea. The list ends saying that crossing the American border will get you a lifetime of comfort and luxury and Pops roars with laughter. He takes the shirt and throws it over his shoulder and says that he will be keeping this one. I guess Carl realizes that Pops won't be drinking today as he stalks off to the bar. "He got me with that'n." Pops says. "That's a purty good shurt."
A few hours later, I'm sitting inside the Administration Building when Carl comes in from his Father's Day celebration. He's a little bit drunk and he comes in with a diet coke on ice and a cup of coffee. He warms the coffee in the microwave and then complains to no one in particular that he had to walk all the way to 19th St. and Ave. O to get the coke for Miss Mary. "I ain't doin' it agi-in." he says. I happen to know that 19th and Ave. O is the site of the nearest bar and that there is a convenience store right down the street from Tent City that sells diet cokes. I figure stopping off on the way back from the bar is the least he could do since Miss Mary obviously funded his day of drinking, but I don't say anything. Carl sees me watching him and he comes over and begins to complain about how it's not easy to walk when you get old, and that his injuries should help him draw a disability check. I tell him that some Eskimo tribes leave their elderly to die on an iceberg out at sea when they've become a burden on the tribe. "Thas jes stupid." he says and I'm disappointed he didn't take the hint and go walking out the gates of Tent City and never stop.
Just as Carl leaves, Rufus comes in and sits next to me. I have diagnosed Rufus with manic depression as he goes through long periods where he does absolutely nothing and speaks in a calm and cool manner followed by periods where he stomps around and constantly mutters to himself. He's muttering to himself now, and I notice that, when he's in this mood, he sounds just like Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade. "Fly killer. Stuff kills flies." he grunts when somebody walks by with a can of Raid. I notice that this is Rufus's shtick as he makes remarks about several inanimate objects around the room. We sit in silence for a while and I wonder what it is he sees when he says "Ass whippin'. Needs an ass whippin'."
"You know who Carl is, Rufus?" I ask. He snarls that he does not, and I ask if he knows anybody named Pete. "No." We sit in silence for a little while longer until Rufus looks at me and says "Ha come?" I tell him that I was just wondering and begin pondering other ways to get rid of Carl.
Sounds like Carl needs to meet Dexter Morgan.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should rent out your marker instead of selling it - an entrepreneur has to start somewhere! Love you! -Shacie
ReplyDeleteI think I used to work for Carl in the insurance business. He is moving up. Hoyt
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