****NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT PORTLAND'S STREET KIDS*****
I don't think many people consider what happens when a homeless person gets sick. I know I never did. But being homeless does not make you immune to sickness. In fact, we are all the more prone to it as we are in crowded quarters and consistently left exposed to the elements.
Imagine being forced to vomit outside and still having to be on your feet and moving. It's hell. It really is. And I turn into a big baby when I'm sick. Kitten Lady and another girl threw up the other night. Kitten Lady said that staff made her clean out the bucket she threw up in. I think there's something especially cruel about having to clean up your own chunks.
When staff wakes me up in the morning I can barely move. He tells me I can stay until 8:45 when shelter closes but then I'm on my own until 1pm. I don't know how this is going to work. Kitten Lady smuggled her kitten in again the previous night. I ask her if I can stay with her for the day since I don't want to be alone. We go off with her boyfriend, Houdini.
They fight over drugs. He used half of their supply of heroin and wanted to sell the rest but she wanted it for withdrawal symptoms. He asks me if he can borrow $10 to buy some more drugs for them to sell. This is not an easy situation for me. I have no problem loaning $10. However, I don't want to feed Kitten Lady the drugs she is trying to get off of. But, if I don't loan the $10 they will find it somewhere else and that means spanging (panhandling) and I want them to not have to do that so I can have Kitten Lady with me.
In the end I loan the money. We go to the convenience store and I buy ice cream candy bars for me and Kitten Lady. Houdini goes in with me and I hand him my cash back and walk out. The next thing I know is the clerk is chasing him out of the store screaming he stole something. I know for a fact he didn't. He doesn't steal because he is afraid of getting caught since people profile him because he is black.
And I used to think there was no more racism today.
He goes off running while we try to explain he didn't steal anything. If the clerk would tell me what he believed was stolen I would have gladly paid for it even though I know he didn't steal anything. Clerk Man calls the police and we stand there dumbstruck. I've seen more cops in the past 24 days than I have in my life. We tell the police officer that nothing was stolen. He doesn't look like he believes Clerk Man and rolls his eyes. I wonder how many times he has been called for "stealing" at that store.
We wait for Kitten Lady's boyfriend to go buy the drugs to sell. I crochet the kitten a harness and leash with my pink yarn. I have to admit it's adorable even though I'm bias. I lean against a backpack and doze off with kitten laying over my heart. Houdini never returns and Kitten Lady is freaking out thinking he is arrested or worse but she finally gets a call on my cell phone from the dealer saying he dropped him off downtown. She's so mad she wants to kill him. I'm quite frankly too tired to care.
We go to #1 figuring he is probably there. I collapse in a chair next to Crochet Buddy. I can't stand in line or keep my eyes open. Crochet Buddy grabs me some oatmeal but it tastes sour and I barely stomach half the bowl. I go and lay down on the bench outside of day services where there is a sign explicitly saying "Do not lie here." Mother Goose comes out and says I can lay there as long as I want until 8pm.
Laying there isn't all that relaxing though. People walk through yelling and guys keep asking me to scoot over and make room for them. It's disgusting. Frustrated I get pissy and scream at them in my half asleep state. Beard Man comes out and checks on me and says he will try to find an office for me to sleep in so guys won't bother me.
When he finds one I lay down on the floor and pick out a movie to watch on my laptop. It's not as comfortable as the bench but at least I'm left alone. I settle on Mulan. I watch it laying on the floor until the clinic opens. I want my sleeping bag but Kitten Lady has it. I find Mother Goose and she says she hasn't seen Kitten Lady but gives me a soft fuzzy blue blanket. It's so cozy and comforting I can barely believe I'm touching something so wonderful.
I finish Mulan and then clinic opens. They take me back to the doctor and she prescribes me some anti-vomit pills. She also gives me a new Nuvaring and some allergy medicine. I go back upstairs and ask for oatmeal. They give me four packets. I take the anti-vomit pills and relax for 20 minutes then heat up the oatmeal. I end up eating all four packets I'm so hungry.
I watch a few episodes of Walking Dead in a half daze. The last time I remembered looking at the clock it was 7:50 and I thought shit someone will be coming to wake me up soon.
Except they didn't.
The next time I check the time on my laptop it says it's 10:06pm. I think there's no way that's right. I check my phone and watch it change from 10:06 to 10:07. I look out the window and it's dark outside. oh fuck. I peek around the corner and only see one cleaning lady. No other staff at all. I sneak past her and look down the stairs. There's one lady talking to a group of boys that are obviously street kids.
I have a split second to decide if I'm going to out myself and try to get a bed or stay inside and hope I don't get caught. I decide to try and get a bed. I don't want to freak myself out sleeping inside. I ask the one lone staff left to call shelter. She reports they have one bed open. I have to run for it because they won't hold it for me.
I run as fast as my stubby legs can carry me and my over-sized backpack. I pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I'll make it in time for that bed. I don't know what I'll do if I don't. I am panting and see Bitch Lady standing outside. I grimace. I should have camped at the day program. She doesn't say anything to me and pulls the door shut behind her. I press the buzzer. I have made it in time for a bed. I see Bitch Lady walking upstairs. She's not working with us tonight. Thank you Flying Spaghetti Monster.
When I get up Bald Staff Man is laughing, "They forgot about you?"
"It'll be funny tomorrow," I say, "But right now not so much." I'm laughing anyways.
Vampire Girl takes this as an opportunity to express her hate for staff, "Of course they'd be that stupid."
I ignore her. I don't like her negative mindset about being against everyone.
I finish the episode of Walking Dead I was watching before I fell asleep, eating oatmeal and crocheting. I'm in bed by midnight.
I get moved into the smaller dorm by Kitten Lady. This way should she need back up with kitten I can help. Plus, that way I don't have to be alone. She said she had been trying to find me but no one had any idea where I was. She laughs when I tell her I almost got locked in #1.
Had I slept for 5 more minutes I would have never gotten to my bunk.
--mm
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