15 May 2012
This morning was warm, sunny and pleasant. Joy was in her usual spot. All was as it should be.
“How are you feeling, Joy?”
“I’m a lot better than yesterday. I went home, lay down and drank a lot of water. I was able to sleep most of the afternoon, until Chuck came home at 4:30. This morning, I was able to keep my breakfast down.”
“How is it going with you and Marilyn, getting a place together?”
“She’s going to phone them today and, hopefully, we’ll be able to see it this afternoon. It’s furnished, that worries me a bit. I don’t want to be in a place with bed bugs. There are mattress covers, that have a very fine weave, that the bedbugs can’t get through. A friend of mine has one, but you can still see the bugs crawling around underneath. It creeps me out.
“Some people have told me that I shouldn’t move in with Marilyn. They say she can get wild when she’s drinking, but she’s cut back quite a bit. I think we’ll get along fine.”
“If she does get wild, I’m sure you can handle her.”
“No problem there.”
“Have you heard anything more about the funeral for Dennis ‘Fingers’?”
“That was a mistake. I talked to a friend of his and he’s doing fine. He just hasn’t been downtown for a while. He was in hospital and is still very weak. He prefers to pan on the Quebec side of the river, since he’s been robbed several times in Ottawa. You’d think they’d pick on someone with more money. Panhandlers just make enough to get by. Whenever I get my check at the end of the month, you won’t we me on the street for a couple of days.
“Silver is down here almost every day. I asked him, ‘What are you hoarding your money for? Are you that greedy?’ He’s not here today, though. There was someone else sitting in his spot this morning, but it wasn’t very long before a gray-haired man chased him off. I don’t know what that was about.”
“I saw Nick yesterday, panning on Elgin Street.”
“He, Hippo and Little Jake were kicked off Bank Street, but Elgin Street is even worse. The police don’t like you panning on Elgin. They’re patrolling it all the time. The same with the park. That’s why they’ve been by so often. It’s the same every summer.”
I said, “I was talking to Claude yesterday. He’s in the Wet Program at Shepherds, but he doesn’t like it.”
“On that program they give you a bit of home-made wine every hour, sometimes it’s watered down. Claude is used to drinking rubbing alcohol and Listerine. He wouldn’t like drinking wine. He doesn’t panhandle. I don’t know where he gets his money. He probably just has a small pension.
“He’s another one that won’t be around much longer; another one to add to the list.”
A man stopped and handed Mo a banana. She said to me, “Do you want this? Since my kidney failure my doctor said I’m not allowed to eat bananas. They have too much potassium.”
…
At noon I talked briefly with Claude. He was sitting in his usual shaded place, on the curb of the sidewalk leading across the bridge, adjacent to the lawn. “Hi Claude, how did you sleep last night?”
“I slept at the Shepherd’s.”
“Yesterday you mentioned that someone was opening and closing the door all night. Did that happen last night?”
“Yes, he did that for a while.”
“How about the other man who shit on the floor. Did he do that again?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure. I changed beds, so I’m near the kitchen. I like it better there. They have me on the Wet Program. I don’t like that.”
“I hear they give you wine every hour. Is that right? Do you like wine?”
“No, I don’t like it. They give me cheap wine, and the beer they give me has no alcohol. It’s awful.”
“How is the pain in your hands and legs?”
“My hands are worse in the morning. If I try to move them, before I’ve soaked them under hot running water, the pain goes right down to the bone. I have pains in my legs, and I can’t walk fast, but apart from that I’m okay.”
“Can you talk to the doctor? Maybe he can give you pills for your pain.”
“I’ll just wait. I’m going to move to the Salvation Army.”
“I’m going up to talk to the others. I’ll see you on my way back.”
A group of people were standing in a circle on the lawn, Chester, Silver, Hippo, Heartless and Joy. Katy, Heinz and Shaggy were sitting by the bridge railing.
As I approached, Heartless was giving advice to Silver, “For your blood test tomorrow, don’t eat after six tonight, and drink only water.”
“What do you mean, ‘drink only water?’ I can have juice and coffee in the morning — can’t I?”
“No, Silver, only water and lots of it. It’ll make your veins stick out, so they’ll have an easier time extracting your blood. They love to see addicts come in because they have such large veins.”
“Here, Silver,” said Joy, “have a swig from my water bottle so you’ll know, in advance, what it tastes like.”
Silver said, “My doctor wants to prescribe some pills for my alcoholism. If they make me better will I have my O.D.S.P. (Ontario Disability Support Program) cut off?”
“Silver, You’re too far gone,” said Joy. “You’re not going to get better.”
“’Heartless told me that they might cut off my O.D.S.P. if I get better. If that’s the case, I don’t want to get better.” (Died 29 September 2012 from cirrhosis of the liver. He was a good friend. I attended his funeral.)
“Silver,“ said Heartless, “if I said that, I was only joking. Get the doctor to prescribe as many pills as possible, and while you’re at it, tell him that you have a bladder problem and you need a diaper allowance. Wet your pants right in his office if you have to.”
Joy said, “You can let a juicy, wet fart that stains your underwear. Wear white, so the stain shows. It would have worked great yesterday when you split your pants.”
“Dennis,” said Heartless, “how long have you been around this area?”
“I’ve worked around here for the past five years.”
“You wouldn’t remember it then. This whole area used to be covered with bushes. Now, they’ve cut them back. Hoover and Elaine lived here for nearly a year. They had a tarp stretched out to keep the rain off. We could all sit under there and keep dry. It wasn’t even visible from the sidewalk.
“There was a rumor going around, about a ‘tent city’ being erected; part of ‘Occupy Ottawa.’ It was supposed to start last Saturday. The city tore up all the grass, like they did last year. It’s not so pleasant camping in the mud. I haven’t heard what’s going to happen next.
“So, how did you come across this group? You don’t drink, you don’t smoke. Did you just stop by one day and start-up a conversation with someone?”
“It’s not that I don’t drink or smoke, I just don’t do it during working hours. I’ve known Joy for about a year and a half. She invited me here, in January, to meet some of her friends.”
“Dennis asked me if he could buy me breakfast. He does that most mornings, when I’m panning.”
‘Heinz called me over, “Dennis, you’re really looking dapper today.”
“I’m wearing Value Village from top to bottom.” (Value Village is a used clothing store, similar to Goodwill or the Salvation Army Thrift Store.)
“I don’t care what you’re wearing. I just wanted to say something nice to you. I just celebrated my fifty-seventh birthday. I wanted you to know that. I’m more miserable and grumpy than ever. I’ve been really nasty to Katy. Half the people here I don’t talk to at all. I just like to come down some times to have a few beer, talk to my friends.
“How is Shaggy doing under her trailer? I can’t see her.”
“She’s got her head out, watching what’s going on. Trying to decide who to bite next.”
“I won’t keep you, Dennis. I just wanted to shake your hand, and I’m not sure I can get up.”
Silver was asking Joy, “What’s Katy’s problem? She hasn’t said more than three words since she’s been here.”
“She’s got the same problem I’ve had all week; she’s starting menopause. Since September, my period hasn’t been regular. It’s all over the place — four months off, one month on. It leaves me feeling miserable.”
Streetsister 