Apart from meeting Emma after her work yesterday (and I’ll talk about that shortly) I spent all of Saturday trying to catch up from missing 40 years of engineering innovation. Waking up today, I was no in the mood.
“Forget it!” I actually said it out loud to my empty apartment.
That was a few minutes before Emma came in for breakfast. Our deal is to keep the chain on if we aren’t dressed, but I still hadn’t put on a shirt. I was glad that she came in as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
“How are you? Hungry?” she asked.
I pulled my shirt on as I answered. “I’m frustrated. And yeah… hungry, too.”
“Still studyin’ for your job?”
I nodded. “But not today. I…”
At that moment I had an idea. “…Let’s go see some of the sights! We’ve been here weeks and not done any of the famous places.”
Hence, we are no at the Statue of Liberty. It has been a wonderful day. It felt a little like when we were carefree and in Miami. Really, a great day.
Now back to last night, another interesting story.
When I picked Emma up, she told me that Hannah had been there to see the site for a job our company picked up. But, she went on to tell me about a guy living in his car they had met in the alley behind the theater. As we were leaving, we went by; I wanted to see what was up.
He told us his name was Devon Collier. “Thanks for… the bathroom earlier.”
He went on to say he had ¼ tank of gas left and needed to conserve as much as he could. A trip to a fast food restaurant or gas station bathroom would have been possible but would have used up gas.
“You live in your car?” I asked.
“I do now.”
Well, there is a lot more story about Devon than I can fit in one post. Guess I’ll finish in the next one. Emma and I are going to the beach!
I’ll pick up Devon’s story, but first let me say that NYC beach isn’t a match for Miami beach, but… it’s still a beach, and we had a blast.
Back to Devon…
He explained his bad luck that resulted in his living in his car.. He had just finished a 2 year humanities degree at a community college in Long Island and came back to Brooklyn where his mom and step dad lived. His job at the college had, naturally, ended with his graduation.
He had gone out with a high school buddy a week later when the house caught fire and burned down. His mother was lost in the fire.
“My step dad said it was my fault for not checking the batteries. He’s… hateful and grieving.”
He had salvaged only a few pieces of clothing. His Social Security card was lost. His step dad wanted nothing to do with him so after the funeral Devon was on his own. (His real dad had bailed on the family when Devon was born and had died in a car crash a few years later.)
“I’m trying to fight all the red tape,” Devon said. “I need a Social Security card to get a job. I need an address to get a SSN, and I need a job to get an address.”
It seemed like he was really in a bind.
Emma offered to give him some money for gas, but he declined. “Nah… I’m not trying to be a beggar. But… if nothing good comes up, I might have to accept in a few days.
He explained that he moved his car from alley to alley every couple days and that he’d probably be back to the theater on Tuesday, when the cop that was letting him park there would be back on the job.
I called Hannah, who had talked to him—Emma didn’t seem to like that idea as much as Hannah seemed pleased—and she said, “Yeah, not the typical bum living in a car.”
She didn’t have much more to say that was different.
I have an idea… Call me crazy… I need to check with my landlord first, then, I’ll tell you what my crazy idea is.
Meanwhile… back to the beach!
Man… A part of me today is wishing Emma wasn’t so set against us being a couple…
No comments:
Post a Comment