Day Thirty

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

It was a hot, sticky, wet day to be homeless. I woke up tired and frustrated at my lack of sleep. I walked past the spot my kitten friend sleeps when she sleeps outside. I didn't see her so I walked past the clinic then went to our agreed upon meeting spot. I wanted to get online to work on the blog so I sat outside of Starbucks. When my computer started to die I went inside and used their outlets. I kept peeking out the window to look for her.

At 10:15 (we were supposed to meet by 10am) I went and sat back by the big chess board. At 10:45 I gave up and went to the library. Now, I must be honest and say I was rather impatient in my leaving like that. It was honestly really selfish; the only reason I left was because I wanted to work on the blog. Bailing on a friend when she needs me just so I can write is pretty shitty. I could have just stuck to pen and paper and waited longer not even writing is more important than being there for a friend.

At the library I ran into Crochet Buddy and Kitty. After about an hour I left with them to go on a food shopping spree at Safeway. Crochet Buddy's food stamps get refilled tomorrow and he didn't use much of them so he told us to go crazy and get whatever we wanted. We went crazy. I made sure to grab two rice puddings for Kitten Lady. We went to Whole Foods to eat the food undisturbed.

I continued to work on the blog until 1pm where I dragged myself to #2 in hopes that KL would show up there. She didn't but the person who was supposed to go out and get her a kitten did. Jamie is a female-male transgender who some nights sleeps in the girls dorm, other nights the boys dorm. Jamie asked if I wanted to go with him to get the kitten. I decided to tag along.

I edited my blog on the max as we went. When I had done all I could do I grabbed my Steinbeck. I'll be honest I'm not all that happy with Travels with Charely. I know I should not dis someone who pretty much fathered American literature but I'm really not happy with John on this one.  I feel like he is pretending to be a bum for the sake of writing a book and quite frankly he's not so great at being homeless. I know I'm one to talk on this one but it's not like I profit from writing this blog. I write it so people don't think I'm dead and to keep myself sane. And I readily admit I'm quite terrible at being homeless. 

I haven't spent much time with Jamie before. We just aren't in the same clique. But because being transgender is something I don't understand I've always wanted to befriend him so I can get his story and maybe get a better understanding of what that is like to go through.

We were supposed to meet the person with the kitten outside of the Beaverton library. We both felt awkward because the area looked so rich and fancy compared to what we are used to. I went inside the library to use the bathroom and look around. When I go back outside I tell Jamie, "There are definitely no street kids here."

A lady right behind me asked if we were waiting for the kitten. I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I just told the woman we were trying to get a cat from that we are homeless. She asked us twice if we had a place to sleep. We lied. She went off to get the kitten but took so long Jamie and I were both convinced she had ditched us. Eventually she did come back with a huge green carrier.

She brought out the kitten, a soft long haired black cat. She said it was born on April 7. My birthday. The kitten was big (compared to Tailia) and frightened, clawing up both our backs and squirming so much the three of us could not control her. I knew instantly that Kitten Lady would not want this kitten. There was no way we'd get it in and out of shelter. What were we supposed to do though? We had gone all the way to Beaverton to get this cat.

I finally got the cat calm enough to walk to the bus stop where we more or less tried to tame her. She got cozy on Jamie's backpack so we left her there after putting Tailia's pink leash on her. It made me sad to put the leash on her. It didn't feel right; I made it for Tailia not this monster kitten. However, holding onto that leash wouldn't do any of us any good.

The bus finally came but wouldn't let us on because the cat wasn't in a carrier.
"It's the law." The driver said rudely.
"It's not the law it's Trimet policy dumbass." Jamie retorted.

Either way we were still stranded. We tucked the kitten in Jamie's backpack for the second bus. When we got on the cat let out its ferocious meow. Heads turned following Jamie's bag. Personally, I just laughed my ass off.

We decided to give the cat to the male to female transgender in the small dorm with Kitten Lady and me. She had been wanting a black cat. If she didn't want the kitten we would put it on Craigslist. Jamie talked about letting it go but I absolutely refused to do that.

We went back to #2 so Jamie could pass the cat on and I could try to find Kitten Lady. I was drained beyond reckoning so I curled up in an arm chair to rest until #2 closed or KL showed up. When she hadn't shown by closing time I was thoroughly worried.

Kitty, Crochet Buddy, Yougio, and I went to Goodwill so I could buy some track pants. As I was walking down an aisle an old fat lady in front of me let a ginormous fart rip. I was pretty sure it was so loud it echoed.  Then the old lady looked back out of the corner of her eye to see if I heard it. I'm pretty sure my facial expression let her know I heard it loud and clear.

"Dude I totally just got farted on." I told the boys.
"The weirdest things happen to you." Crochet Buddy said.

We spent the rest of the night waiting at Whole Foods since it was raining and hot and sticky out. I took it as an opportunity to get caught up on the blog and eat cookie dough. I tried not to worry about my Kitten Lady but couldn't help it. Once we were in the general vicinity of of shelter I heard her call me name.

"Where are you?" I yelled.
"Over here." I finally spotted her across by the porn shop.

We ran to each other and hugged. I kept telling her how worried I was. Apparently we had both been at the park but had just not seen each other. Her boyfriend said that he lost my number which she said she thought was a lie of jealousy. I gave her a pudding and the rest of the cookie dough. I wrote my number on a piece of the Whole Food's bag. We agreed to meet outside of shelter tomorrow. I'm worried about her sleeping outside but feel somewhat better now that I found her all in one piece.

--mm