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8 September 2014
I was greeted by Andre and Mariah at the park. Andre moved to let me sit on part of his waterproof tarp.
Outcast said, “So, how was your weekend, Dennis?”
“Fine,” I said, “I didn’t do much. It’s nice when nothing is planned. That’s my favorite kind of weekend, I had nothing that I needed to do, and no deadline to meet.”
“That’s the way I like it too. Did Andre tell you about the adventure we had in the Beer Store?’ I shook my head. ‘We were standing in line. This guy with a pack sack kept backing into me. I tapped him on the shoulder and said to him, ‘The line goes forward. Don’t keep backing into me.’ He asked, ‘Do you have a problem?’ Andre traded places with me. When the guy was at the cash he left his wallet on the counter. Andre picked it up. It only had ten dollars in it. We went to the Beer Store the next day. The guy at the counter asked? ‘Can you get that wallet back in ten minutes? We have you on videotape. If the wallet is returned we won’t phone the police.’
Mariah said to me, “Did you hear that Joy is back home? I visited her in hospital yesterday and they said that she wouldn’t be getting out for a week or two. This morning, she was in tears when she phoned me and said, ‘They’re kicking me out. They won’t let me have a wheel chair a cane or anything.’ They still don’t know what’s wrong with her legs, but they’ll have a physio therapist come by her apartment. I told Jake. The first thing he said is ‘Holy shit! I’m going to have to get this place tidied up. Joy said that she wanted the place to herself, but as soon as he said, ‘It’s time for me to check in at the Sally.’ She said, ‘Oh, Jake, don’t leave me alone.’ Jake had an extra cane for her and we were able to rent a wheel chair for her to get around her place. She does her little shuffle when she gets out of the chair. The main thing she was worried about was that Jake wouldn’t have the bed made up.”
I said, “Jake broke the bed, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he broke the old one. They replaced it with a bed that folds into a couch during the day. It’s a metal one, harder to break.”
I asked, “How have you been feeling?”
My back still gives me problems.”
“How about your stomach?”
“It’s not so much my stomach, but I’ve had my period twice this month, probably due to all the stress. Charlie bought me a forty of vodka yesterday. I caught him pouring a shot. He downed that and poured himself another. I said, “Hey, who did you buy that for? If you get shitfaced on me, I’ll be kicking you to the curb.’ He said, ‘I didn’t think you saw me. I won’t have any more.’
Andre said, ‘You won’t be seeing me next week. I’m gong camping with my sister, two nephews and two nieces. I’ve also invited this other woman that I’ve been seeing. My sister and her were really close growing up, but they had a falling out. Since it was my sister who had made all the arrangements I ran it by her first. I said, ‘Sis, I know you’ve got a big heart. Do you think it’s time to forgive and forget. It would mean a lot to me.’ She said, ‘Okay, we’ll give it a try.’
“I got some pictures here of the trailer she rented for a hundred and ten dollars. It’s massive. It has pop outs all over the place. It looks like a mansion inside.”
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Streetsister 