Day Thirty-Six

    ****NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT PORTLAND'S STREET KIDS***** 

I wake up before first wake up call. Downstairs they wake you up at 7:45. Upstairs first wake up call is 8:15. Apparently my body doesn't know what to do with an extra 30 minutes of sleep. I try to fall back asleep but I can't so I roll out of bed. I get dressed and throw my hair up. I try to kill time talking to people but I don't particularly want to be there so I leave.

I wait across the street for Kitten Lady but when she doesn't show by 8:50 I assume she got kicked out in the night. I'm pretty ticked off at Jamie for bringing this stupid kitten to us and putting KL at risk of getting kicked out again without even showing.

I go to breakfast where the cook seriously asks me for advice on the oatmeal. This cracks me up. I don't even know the lady's name but she knows that oatmeal is my favorite dietary supplement. I eat two bowls of it before I leave OI and head to the library. I figure KL will show up at lunch.

I end up passing her on my way to the library. She didn't get kicked out like I thought. Instead staff forgot to wake her up. The kitten wasn't a problem all night. She holds the kitten out and its shaking from the cold. I put it between my boobs until we get to the block #1 is on; we don't want people knowing we have her so we put her in KL's backpack. She looks up at us pitifully and sticks her paw up to touch KL's finger like saying, "Hey guys don't forget about me." KL and I cannot help but laugh at this. "She really is the most pathetic kitten I've ever seen." I say.

I go upstairs to get a hoodie for the kitten so we can wrap her up and keep her warm. The counselor lady is up there and corners me by the locker to ask to set up an appointment. I do so begrudgingly. I'm really doubting that counseling is going to be beneficial right now but I lack the ability to say no.

I wrap the kitten up like a burrito for KL and she lays down on the outside bench with it while I go to the library. An hour and a half later KL comes to the library and asks if I want to buy snacks and sit around and watch movies. This sounds fabulous. We also need to get the kitten some food she will eat because she has refused everything we have offered thus far.

We go to Fred Meyer and get cookie dough, Pringles, and candy. I make a mixture of Karo syrup, egg, and milk for the kitten. This is what my vet had taught me long ago to give to cats that need fatting up. The kitten doesn't look thin because she is so fluffy but she is incredibly malnourished. I'm honestly not sure if she will even live. Her gums are white. She sneezes and coughs. I look at her and say, "I don't know what to do about you. We can't afford another unhealthy kitten."

The truth is we can't afford any kitten. But, I also cannot look at the pathetic kitten face and say that she must go. The male-fem transgender kid has already offered to take her but KL and I both immediately said no. We don't even know what she did with the last cat she got. Out of all the homeless kids we are probably the best ones to take care of her. But, the kitten doesn't exactly deserve to be homeless either.

That's why I don't like what Jamie is doing. She is taking kittens away from potential being adopted into homes to be homeless kittens instead. Yet, I don't know about putting the kitten up on Craiglist seeing as she's so timid and...lifeless.

After we get the snacks from Fred Meyer we go to the parking garage across from Fred Meyer to sit and snack. I make a mixture out of the Karo syrup, egg, and milk for the kitten. I grab the eye dropper to feed her and she opens her mouth for it and laps it up excitedly. Yet, when I set her down to eat on her own she simply stares at it.

KL falls asleep sitting up so I move everything behind a wall so we can sleep there. We both fall asleep despite the fact that we are laying on a wood floor that smells like piss. One of the other street kids comes up to try and sleep and jumps over the wall to sleep in a little cubby between the wall and the ceiling. I scream when he comes up waking us up. KL laughs at me, "You really need to chill out."

We both fall back asleep and about an hour or two later I wake back up. The kitten needs feeding again so I look for the bowl with the mixture. When I finally find it KL has fallen asleep with her leg on top of it. I pick up her leg and move it and the girl doesn't even budge. Then I can't find the kitten but I realize she is sleeping inside KL's shirt. I feed the kitten until I hear someone climbing up the stairs. I pinch KL to wake her up.

The steps turn out to belong to another street kid we don't know. I feel bad for waking her but oh well. The guy leaves and I sneeze so loud it echoes. "You are not good at hiding." KL tells me.
"Yeah, if there's ever a genocide of street kids I'm fucked."

She eats a tub of rice pudding while I play with the kitten. The guy comes back and says someone called the police on us. I start picking our belongings up.
"No one called the police on us," KL says, "He just wants to sleep here."
"I know," I say, "But we should probably move anyways."

We catch the max and get off at the next stop. I decide to go to the library but KL wants to sleep outside of #1. We separate and I head into the library to hang out until dinner. I run into Houdini while I'm there and tell him KL is sleeping at #1. When I get there I don't see her though and figure she has gone off with him.

He comes upstairs looking for her and when I say I thought she was with him he gets frustrated. "Please keep her with you," he says, and I know he's probably right after she got kidnapped and all. I don't forget what happened the last time we left her alone. He leaves then comes back up laughing. She was sleeping outside she was just tucked in the corner where we missed her.

In shelter I read until it's time to do dishes. I pick dishes because I've never minded doing them before, it counts for two chores, and you can use the radio. I blast the radio so loud I'm sure the whole shelter can hear it. Once I'm done, which is about 15 minutes later since apparently downstairs wasn't very hungry I go and take a hot shower and go to bed.

--mm