Part 8 of the Life on the Street series…
So I jump in the car and thank the man profusely for helping me out with a ride only to discover that I am STILL very prejudiced in my thinking. After all of this, I get in a car that I expect to be driven by someone like me or something else than what I got…Not that it was bad – It was not what I had in my mind for the person picking me up (if anyone ever did stop).
Sitting in the driver's seat was a guy with piercings, tattoos, a bandana and a Marlboro cigarette in his hand. There was a Corona emblem dangling from his rear view mirror and his driver's seat was set way back and in the "almost laying down" position and his hand was fashionably draped over the steering wheel of which he was looking through not over! I was astonished and thus I thanked him again for picking me up. His response spoke VOLUMES to my heart… "Hey man, I have been where you are right now and would have loved for someone to pick me up. I am just trying to help. Where you headed?" As we drove and talked for the next two miles, he said that he hates seeing people in a tough spot and if there is someone in a "safer" area of town he will always offer them a ride. WOW!
He dropped me at the corner where there was a restaurant and two gas stations. I asked at the restaurant for some old newspapers and they had none but I used the bathroom and dug a few paper towels out of the waste basket. It was 5PM by now and I was hungry again and wondering about staying warm. I walked to the gas station and received a reality check again – one more level down in my pride. As I asked for newspapers and explained my predicament I was told that they had none but I could dig in the dumpster if I wanted to – "There are some cardboard boxes in there that may help."
Right! I am going to dig in a dumpster. Hmmmm, I wonder what is in there… I guess I can always look to see what I can reach. The lid was up so I walked over and looked in. Cardboard boxes alright. Ha! I would have been able to fit a foot in one – that was how big they were – wouldn't that have been a sight! But WAIT! Just beyond my reach was a couple of brand new newspapers that were both about an inch thick that someone had just tossed in there. Aww crud…Well, here goes, I jumped up and rested my belly on the edge and dangled my feet out the back and leaned in to get these things. Finally I reached them and quickly landed back on my feet with the agility of a cat! OK maybe not – but I didn't fall on my behind! Highly embarrassed, I quickly headed off down the road with my newspapers (and my only hope for warmth) under my arm. Night was soon to fall and I was still three or four miles from my intended destination.
Where was I headed – the only place I knew to go where I could safely have a fire all night and attempt to stay warm – The church has an area where a bunch of our guys had cut a bunch of trees down and they had stacked all of the brush up in an enormous pile. I had an endless supply of wood to burn and it was out in the woods so I would be unseen (for the most part). So now I was walking with a mission.
Last one tomorrow – "Staying Warm and Drying Out"
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