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23 September 2014
“Good morning Chuck, it’s cool today.”
“Yes, it sure is. Not what the weather forecast predicted at all. It was supposed to be sunny this morning. We were supposed to be able to see the moon and stars last night. I was up at 5:30 walking Goldie and could hardly see a thing. One of our streetlights is also out. I know we have a couple of skunks in our neighborhood. This morning we couldn’t see them and we got sprayed. Goldie was sick. She vomited three times. She’s still a bit shaky now, she doesn’t want to get down from my lap.
“This morning I saw two beautiful women, in fact they walked by a number of times. They were wearing the high hooker shoes, short tight skirts. I though to myself, ‘They’re either strippers or hookers. Then I thought, there are no strip joints around here. So that narrowed it down. I also saw Chili down by the market. She went out with my son for a while, but got badly messed up with drugs. A couple of months ago I saw her standing on the corner, waving at truck drivers. She’s a young pretty girl. It’s a shame that she’s ended up like she has.
I said, “She sat with me on the bus last week. We had a long chat. She’s lives not far from me. She said that she’s near her methadone clinic and going to school, so that sounds good.”
“I’m glad to hear that she’s getting treatment. She’s a nice girl.”
I asked, “How difficult is it to get treatment for drug addiction or alcoholism? I was talking to Ian a while back. He was on a wet program with the Shepherd. The waiting list was two years.”
Chuck said, “If you don’t have much money you can get on a program where they monitor your drinking and Teach you how to get along without alcohol. The trouble is it only lasts a month. It’s not worth a shit. You can’t break a thirty year habit in a month. On the other hand, if you’ve got lots of money, you can go to an addiction facility with the best psychiatrists, like you see the Hollywood stars doing. You can stay there as long as you can afford.”
I asked, “How about affordable housing? I’ve heard that a lot of people wouldn’t be homeless, if there was housing within their budget.”
“I’m in a good situation where I live. It’s the best in the city. For a two-bedroom apartment that would normally rent for $900 a month, I get it for $318. Then I have to pay the hydro. It’s a good deal, but I still have to panhandle to get enough to eat.”
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Streetsister 