Sue took time away from organizing the clinic to greet Bruce, who was her first patient in the new clinic on the ship. Bruce shyly asked if she had anything that could be put on his open sores. Sue smiled at him and asked him to sit down while she gathered the supplies she would need. She first wiped each sore with a disinfectant wipe and then put a tiny bit of cortisol cream on to help with the itching and then covered each sore with band-aids. They talked while she worked and Bruce was surprised to learn that Sue had also been homeless!
Bruce asked Sue why someone with a good job and a pleasant personality and seemingly no addictions had gone homeless. Sue said, “My then husband had a secret. In fact it was so secret that I didn’t even know he had a secret until he died. He had a gambling addiction that took our house and our retirement!”
Bruce thought about that a while, enjoying the pampering he was receiving from Sue. She asked how he had come to be homeless. “Well, I owned my own home outright and I worked out of my home, repairing watches. I loved my work and had a beautiful garden in the backyard with a trickling stream and goldfish. I had a special talent for fixing old pocket watches and grandfather clocks. My clientele was built up by word of mouth. Then, one day I got a visitor at my door. He didn’t have a watch to repair and started asking me questions. It turns out, I owed back taxes that were so large I couldn’t possibly pay them. The notices had apparently been sent to the wrong address and there was nothing I could do but relinquish my home to the tax department and move out. I put everything in storage and moved into my old car, while I thought about what to do. Nothing came to mind, so I got a tent and moved into a homeless camp. I was there about 6 weeks before there was a sweep. I wasn’t home at the time in my tent as I had gone to see about a job, and I didn’t know they were coming, so I lost my tent, my computer, my precious tools for fixing watches….” He paused and started sobbing.
“They were irreplaceable. The tools, I mean. I was floored. It put me into a state of depression, being kicked when I was down. Having no job and very little finances, I had to let my storage unit go. I did learn a valuable lesson from it all, though, Sue. After being in a depressed state for a week, I realized having a positive attitude was essential,” Bruce explained to her.
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“Ok, you are all fixed up Bruce. I need to see you every morning until all of your sores are scabbed over. At this point I am not so busy so just come when it fits into your schedule. Do you have any idea what job you will be doing on the ship?”
“Not yet, but I am excited to find out! It is going to be really good to have a purpose in life again!” Bruce answered.
Danny took a walk to one of the homeless camps he had been to before, curious to see if the people who had been there had been relocated. As he got closer, he could hear noise, confusion, loud music and the sound of people shouting and arguing. Danny’s eyes nearly popped out when he saw at least 200 people in that block of the city. A young man, who looked to be in his early 20’s stumbled out of the camp right in front of Danny. Danny took that opportunity to ask him what had happened and why there were so many people here, now.
Peter answered, “When sweeps happened close by, the people displaced by them came here. So far no one has bothered us.”
Danny asked him, “Have you guys heard about the housing on the cruise ships? And about the clinic where you can get rehab?”
Peter said, “Yeah, but most of us are on drugs and don’t want to give it up, so we are here. Hopefully they will leave us alone.”
“Well, they won’t!” Danny said emphatically. “They mean business this time and if you don’t go voluntarily right away, you will be forcibly moved to either the ship or a clinic. The only other option is to leave the Portland area!”
Peter broke out laughing! He laughed so hard, he had a coughing fit. “Yeah, that’s what they always say! Not going to happen.”
Danny saw his warning was falling on deaf ears and decided to go check out the camp for himself. Danny saw a man dressed in stylish clothes walking up to a group of three people and offer them a small aluminum foil package. Each one of them got a package and gave him $5 in return. He then walked off to another group of people and the process repeated. An acrid smell reached him from the first group of people. A movement over to his left caught his attention. There was another drug deal going down. There was trash everywhere; empty drink bottles, Mc David’s wrappers, old dirty clothes and yes, even piles of poop. Danny had seen and smelled enough. He left and went back home.