Carl and Max (as he found the man was called) traveled quietly since Max had crawled into the bunk in the back of the cab and fallen right asleep. He slept until they got to the port, where Max roused when the truck stopped. The truck was half unloaded onto the boat that would take them out to the cruise ship. The other half would go to the second ship. Carl didn’t have to make small talk, as Max went to the captain of the boat and talked with him on the short trip out to the ship. Once on the ship, Carl helped unload and Max disappeared.
Max was on a mission to check out the cruise ship so he would know first hand how well the homeless project was working. Anyone could sit up in Washington and read reports, but how accurate would the reports be? This was a project dear to Max’s heart, as he knew there were far too many people on this planet and this was a valuable first step toward eliminating the problem. So he wandered around the ship, armed with his arsenal of questions.
Danny found himself putting up new signs. There were twice as many as the last batch of signs he had put up. He was instructed by his boss to get these up as soon as possible. The message on the signs read: Last warning to the Homeless of Portland. Remove yourself from the streets or be removed! Any homeless who are still on the streets of Portland on and after October 31st, 2024 will be forcibly removed. Consider yourself warned! The city of Portland.
Danny worked as hard and fast as he could. He realized the importance of these signs reaching all of the homeless people to give them a chance to move out of the city. A man walked up to Danny as he thumbtacked one of the papers to a telephone pole and asked, “Watcha doin?”
Danny said, “Read it for yourself. It is an important warning.”
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The man turned his head sideways to look at Danny and breathed alcohol breath on him, saying “Uh, I can’t read. Can you read it?”
Danny complied, reading it with great inflection so the man would fully get how important this message was.
In spite of Danny’s emphasis, the old man said, “Aw, it’s just another sweep coming. Everything will be back to the same in two or three days.” And he walked off muttering to himself. A little bit discouraging, but Danny had expected this and just set off more determined than ever to reach the ones who would listen.
After visiting the kitchen, engine room, laundry room and about every other place on the ship, asking questions, Max found out there was an over 50 card game at 9:00 and so told Carl they would be staying on the ship overnight. He paid for a room with two single beds and they got a shower and went down to supper.
Max invited Carl to the poker game and Carl went, reluctantly, not planning to stay long. They were both given permission to play with real money since neither of them had any tokens. Max was unable to hide his disdain for the people he was playing with. During the third hand, Carl figured Max must have gotten a good hand because he raised really big on the flop. When it came around to Carl, he folded because he only had a 2,3 offsuit. The gentleman next to Carl re-raised and winked at Carl. Max caught the wink and went on tilt! He said, “Oh, you think you have a better hand than me, don’t you? You think you are pretty smart! Well, take this,” and Max went all in. The older gentleman with the thinning hair was the only one still in the pot, besides Max. He sat there thinking about his move and Max smirked, knowing his pocket aces were the top of the heap. The older gentleman, named Pete, matched the bet. The dealer dealt out the ace of hearts, jack of hearts, ten of hearts, and two threes! Max was practically dancing on the table, as he had a fullhouse with aces high! He laid down his hand and said, “Beat that if you can!” and glared at Pete. Pete looked him in the eye and laid down the King of hearts and the Queen of hearts! Max sat down with the wind knocked out of him as he saw he had been beaten by a royal flush!!!