PLEASE READ ONLY IF YOU ARE 17 OR OLDER
This nineteen year old girl comes in and says she needs to talk. she tells me that her boyfriend (who happens to be a 45 year old heroine addict) was drunk last night and threatened to cut off her head. He then kicked her out. She related that she is going to look for a different place to live in a few weeks. I offered a few suggestions for immediately leaving him; she said she would think about it.
This twenty-three year old girl calls and says, " guess what happened?"
"What?", I say.
"My boyfriend (who happens to be a 38 year old guy addicted to prescription meds) beat me up, I have a black eye and bruises. "
"Where are you now?" I ask.
"I'm with another guy (who is a forty year old guy who doesn't seem to be addicted to anything). I have my two kids with me." She asks for some paperwork to get into some housing program. I tell her to keep safe and that we will be here if she needs anything. She says she might be around today, maybe Tuesday.
I guy comes in who just turned 18. "Check this out, Heath." He pulls up his sleeve to reveal a homemade tattoo, crooked, and smeared reading "Blood B$ Damnation". I say something about making sure it doesn't get infected. He seems so stoked about how cool it is. He does live in a garage, doesn't work, hasn't quite finished high school yet; but he has a brand spanking new tattoo. After reminding him for a couple weeks, he turns in a job application. He asks if we want a PlayStation, he tells me he is like Robin Hood.
This other guy I haven't talked to in a while, but I've been thinking about him. He lives under a bridge nearby. He's got a couch, end table, and some carpet. He works two part time jobs and has worked them for about six months. His dad just got hit by a car (that's what people are saying). He's got to be twenty-four by now. I just prayed for him.
Sometimes it seems like it might be nice to have a retail job. A place where people come in and buy things, you sell things, everyone says how are you; everyone responds with good, how are you. It really isn't that nice, but it is comforting knowing that not everyone is living on the edge of personal apocalypse. This guy said to me today, "i need to get one of these minute phones, lost mine yesterday. I have a phone holster for my belt and everything. I wasn't stretching or anything, it just seemed to fall out and by the end of the day it was gone. Well, that's my sad story; do you have one you want to share with me?" I told him about my cool coat that has a cellphone pocket that my phone never falls out of. He was buying a phone for 9.99 so we decided it would be a better deal for him to get the phone and use his holster instead of looking for a coat like mine.
This girl did the first concert where I work
No comments:
Post a Comment