The third week of October found changes in Portland. Alice and Roy, who were servers at the mission, saw fewer people coming in each day. Roy looked at Alice, one morning after serving 30 people, with seemingly no one else showing up for breakfast and said, “ Alice, do you remember telling me there would be no more homeless soon? Well, I didn’t believe it, but it looks like you were right! We are going to be out of work here pretty soon, unless something changes. Are you still thinking about going to work on one of the cruise ships, serving meals?”
Alice said, “Yeah, I told you it would happen! No, I changed my mind and I already have a new job lined up at a cafeteria. I will be making ten dollars an hour more! I can’t wait! I may be making enough to move out of my ex’s house! Freedom!”
Roy took a sip of coffee and another bite of a chocolate covered cream filled doughnut. He said, “These day old doughnuts are pretty good! They are not as fresh as Krispy Kremes, but it beats having to buy breakfast. Now that the homeless are pretty much gone, we have so much extra food, we are almost obligated to help eat it! So, does the cafeteria need any more servers?”
“I’ll put in a good word for you, Roy,” Alice said. She hopped up and went back to her station, as five more people walked in.
Sarah, who was in charge of the parking lot where the homeless waited for the transport to the cruise ships, was adjusting inventory and had only hired one man a day to take the people to the cruise ships, because there were simply not many homeless left in Portland. On the way to work that morning, she had seen something concerning. There was a homeless encampment in the park near her house which, at her best guess, contained fifty people who didn’t look like they were planning to head to the cruise ship. She felt almost panicked inside, thinking about what would happen to them if they didn’t go this week. She said to herself, “I will stop in and visit with them this evening on the way home and see if I can explain things better to them and hopefully some of them will be saved.”
Donny began his task of taking down warning signs and putting in their place the new signs. The new signs read: Forbidden!! Camping within the city limits of Portland, Homeless People, Panhandling, Indigent people. Enforcement date is November 1, 2024. There will be no mercy! City of Portland.
Donny came to the homeless encampment in town where the 200 people had been. It was eerily silent, no ‘Born to be Wild’ playing anymore, trash was blowing around in the wind, needles scattered through the whole block. Donny wondered, as he stapled another sign to a fence, who the drug dealing piranhas were feeding on now. Would they close up shop here and go to another city, looking for more desperate homeless or would they turn to the schools and prey on innocent children? He slowly approached the large warehouse where Darlene and Beth had been. After taking down 75 old signs and putting up 75 new ones, he took a break and went to check on Darlene and Beth. When he walked in, the stench of urine and body odor greeted him. He guessed Darlene had gone to a cruise ship, since she had been the one to organize and keep things clean. To his surprise, Beth was still there and Stretch, the mouse, had grown friendly enough to sit on her shoulder. She looked up from feeding him and said, “Hello.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Danny introduced himself, figuring she was too strung out to remember him. “I’m Danny. Do you know if Darlene is still here?”
“No, she left for the cruise ship. I pretended like I was going to the clinic, so she wouldn’t feel responsible for me anymore and then after she left for the ship, Tropical Cabana, I came back. I miss her, but the policeman comes most days and brings Stretch and I some food.” Beth said.
Danny felt like he had to warn Beth of things to come and said, “Are you aware that at the end of this week, homeless people are forbidden to be here? My guess is what happens to anyone still here won’t be pretty.”
Beth said, “OH, you don’t believe all of that, do you? That’s what they always say, but it goes back to the same ol’, same ol’.”
“Yes, I do believe things will be different. You need to get out of Portland!” Danny said, but realized his warnings were falling on deaf ears. He went back to work and while he was wondering how long it would take to get these sites cleaned up, a large dump truck and an excavator passed him, heading in the direction of the ‘Born to be Wild’ lot. “ They aren’t wasting any time,” he thought.
Sarah pulled up to the park near her house and parked. Before she got out, she saw several drug deals take place. There was a crowd gathered at a picnic table and she figured she would start there. “Hi everybody, I brought you some food,” she said and placed the leftover food from the place where she worked. She had brought paper plates and disposable silverware, too. She didn’t have to invite them twice; they were digging in almost before the items made it to the table. She had brought potato salad, macaroni salad with ham and cheese, deviled eggs, and a couple of bread sleeves of sandwiches.
Sarah addressed a young lady who couldn’t have been more than 15. “What’s your name, hon?”
The girl nibbled on a sandwich and answered, “Clare.”
Sarah asked if she or anyone else around had read the new posters being put up. Everybody was too preoccupied with their food and drugs to answer. She took a breath and dove right in. “At the end of the week there will be no more homeless or camping. It will be so illegal that the final sweep will sweep the people too. It won’t just be tickets or jail; it looks like it will be elimination this time. What are you guys going to do? There are only a few days left to get on a cruise ship or go to the clinic.”
“We are so tired of hearing that junk. They keep saying they will help us, but it never changes. I don’t trust them or their cruise ships or the clinic,” one lady said. Similar comments were heard, but most of them ignored the question and started drifting off back to their tents.
Sarah was weary from a long day out in the sun, so since she wasn’t getting anywhere, she started cleaning up the mess of paper plates and forks and serving tins. She took the garbage with her and walked dejectedly back to her car.