Day One Hundred and One

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

I get up in the morning to shower. I need to leave early so that I can find a dentist to fix the dry socket and I need to talk to Bernard about all the drama the ginger kids are creating for me.  He says that he wants to just rush me into transitional housing to get me out of the shelter. Clearly, I'm not cut out for this stuff.

The clinic finds me a dentist. I go as soon as I finish off a bowl of oatmeal. The dentist lady cleans out the hole with water then fills it with gauze and medicine. It takes two seconds. When she's done I go back to #1 and Mother Goose lets me up to sleep in an office until lunch. They let me hide upstairs all day even though the day program is closed.

Beard Man and I hang out and bullshit. He complains that I didn't give him gummies so I throw Gushers at him. He tells me that he's glad I've been taking care of myself lately instead of trying to help everyone else. We bullshit and Beard man is highly unprofessional as we're joking around. A new volunteer walks in. We aren't sure if she's a girl or a boy so Beard Man sort of mumbles, "sir...ma'am...I'm not sure." I start to giggle. Once her back is turned I whisper, "So I totally thought she was Nerdboy."
"God, she does kind of look like him. That's why I wasn't sure."
We both start laughing.

"M, if I leave you alone in here will you steal stuff?" He asks me so he can go takes a dump.
"I will steal everything." I say.
"Okay," he says and heads off to the bathroom. When he comes back he starts giggling. "Did you just send a picture of your crap to Gauges Guy?" I ask him.
"How'd you know?" he asks me.
"You're giggling like a high school girl."
"Oh yeah. Guess that's a good give away. I wanted to show him what I created."

I roll my eyes. The scary thing is I find nothing unusual about this conversation.

Mother Goose gives me gift cards for Safeway so I can buy soft foods. I hide out until shelter where the ginger clan creates all kinds of trouble for me. I go to bed just to escape them. I sneak on the internet and play Spider Solitaire until I pass out.

--mm