Dignity......Justice
Today I got a check from a homeless guy for $2,000.
Go figure.
Dave was one of our human pets that I have written about. In Cachagua, it turns out that from time to time.....or all the time......there are people at the stark end of the wire. Homeless, penniless, clueless, friendless, hopeless.
You can either turn away.....or dig in.
Dave is an ornery fuck. He has lived in Cachagua for a million years....or at least long enough to have pissed off almost everyone out here.
Dave likes cribbage....sudoku.....Coors Lite.....bitter humor.....and possibly some scheduled pharmaceuticals. Not necessarily in that order.
Dave's bitter humor and cranky intelligence endeared him to Amanda from the get-go. The two of them were part of the community wide love affair with Store Kitty....and they further bonded over Dremel tools and their artistic uses.
Dave takes care of all our re-cycle....glass, cardboard, plastic, etc. Dave keeps the property clean and raked. Dave makes sure the water bottles are filled and cold for Monday Night. Dave lives in the trailer that Officer Cocksucker is trying to condemn and haul away. Dave rides along with Amanda on her shopping runs to Costco for The Store.....and indulges her in her quest for the perfect Wendy's hamburger......They actually schedule their Costco runs around the personnel schedule at the Seaside Wendy's......
Dave is just a year older than me.....but has been ill-served by time, and some personal life-style choices. Five years ago, we realized that we either support Dave......or Dave would die.
Dave's needs are simple: a 12 pack of Coors, a pack of smokes.....some carbo/fat heavy microwaved food. Figure $25-30 a day. 365 days, five years......The bill comes to $60,000. I mentioned this in the blog once.....not to shame Dave, or to sparkle up my own Jesus image.....but to point out at least one of the holes in our social set up.
I mean, really........Sixty grand buys a Hummer! And Amanda and I were happy with a bitter homeless Sudoku guy?
The blog post got back to Dave, and hurt his feelings a tad.
Meanwhile, Amanda pushed on with trying to get Dave back into the Program: Social Security, Medicare.....all that.
Dave's previous health care program was similar to mine: Something hurts......apply alcohol and Vicodin and try to ignore it; you can't breathe or move.....call the ambulance. When the bill comes for the ambulance......fucking sue me. (That is a new Japanese dish......very popular in Cachagua).
Amanda drove Dave back and forth to various doctors and bureaucrats in Salinas in search of a Social Security check and Medicare. Dave indulged her......but:
Dave was over it......his experience with government and society was such that he had decided he would actually prefer to die, rather than jump through hoops. You have heard of Suicide by Cop?.......Dave chose Suicide by Cachagua.
Meanwhile....the guy had worked a ton of years, and paid into the system. Dave worked at Digital Research.....and knows a ton of dirt about Gary Kildall. Dave worked at the Monterey Plaza in the opening phase.....and knows a ton of dirt about the local mafiosi who pulled that deal off. Dave worked for Coast Produce in Watsonville....and in Seattle, and San Diego......
Dave is not a bum.....just a guy who gave up.
Amanda found him and kept him as a pet......and eventually revved him up and put him back in society.
It has been a long month.....and I am struggling to make sense of this post. Today, Dave got his bank account.....got his check from Social Security........the check that he had earned for all his work all those years.....
His first act was to write me a check for two grand.
His second act was to invite Amanda out for a lunch date.....his last lunch date having been twenty-five years ago.....
His third act was to buy a Dremel router table.
His fourth act was to knock down all the plywood and bamboo we had used to hide his trailer from Officer Cocksucker.......and start sprucing up his home zone......
Dave is now a Citizen.....
This morning, the Steelhead Rescue guys came and parked next to Dave's house, and saved another 200 baby steelhead from the Cachagua Creek.....the Creek that Dave keeps clean and clear of debris. That brings the total for the year to over a thousand.....just at Dave's Trailer.
As I left work tonight, I thought I heard a wild cat screaming. I stopped the car and rolled down the window. I realized it was Dave......and his Dremel tool router table, working on some driftwood......making art.
Who needs a Hummer?
Go figure.
Dave was one of our human pets that I have written about. In Cachagua, it turns out that from time to time.....or all the time......there are people at the stark end of the wire. Homeless, penniless, clueless, friendless, hopeless.
You can either turn away.....or dig in.
Dave is an ornery fuck. He has lived in Cachagua for a million years....or at least long enough to have pissed off almost everyone out here.
Dave likes cribbage....sudoku.....Coors Lite.....bitter humor.....and possibly some scheduled pharmaceuticals. Not necessarily in that order.
Dave's bitter humor and cranky intelligence endeared him to Amanda from the get-go. The two of them were part of the community wide love affair with Store Kitty....and they further bonded over Dremel tools and their artistic uses.
Dave takes care of all our re-cycle....glass, cardboard, plastic, etc. Dave keeps the property clean and raked. Dave makes sure the water bottles are filled and cold for Monday Night. Dave lives in the trailer that Officer Cocksucker is trying to condemn and haul away. Dave rides along with Amanda on her shopping runs to Costco for The Store.....and indulges her in her quest for the perfect Wendy's hamburger......They actually schedule their Costco runs around the personnel schedule at the Seaside Wendy's......
Dave is just a year older than me.....but has been ill-served by time, and some personal life-style choices. Five years ago, we realized that we either support Dave......or Dave would die.
Dave's needs are simple: a 12 pack of Coors, a pack of smokes.....some carbo/fat heavy microwaved food. Figure $25-30 a day. 365 days, five years......The bill comes to $60,000. I mentioned this in the blog once.....not to shame Dave, or to sparkle up my own Jesus image.....but to point out at least one of the holes in our social set up.
I mean, really........Sixty grand buys a Hummer! And Amanda and I were happy with a bitter homeless Sudoku guy?
The blog post got back to Dave, and hurt his feelings a tad.
Meanwhile, Amanda pushed on with trying to get Dave back into the Program: Social Security, Medicare.....all that.
Dave's previous health care program was similar to mine: Something hurts......apply alcohol and Vicodin and try to ignore it; you can't breathe or move.....call the ambulance. When the bill comes for the ambulance......fucking sue me. (That is a new Japanese dish......very popular in Cachagua).
Amanda drove Dave back and forth to various doctors and bureaucrats in Salinas in search of a Social Security check and Medicare. Dave indulged her......but:
Dave was over it......his experience with government and society was such that he had decided he would actually prefer to die, rather than jump through hoops. You have heard of Suicide by Cop?.......Dave chose Suicide by Cachagua.
Meanwhile....the guy had worked a ton of years, and paid into the system. Dave worked at Digital Research.....and knows a ton of dirt about Gary Kildall. Dave worked at the Monterey Plaza in the opening phase.....and knows a ton of dirt about the local mafiosi who pulled that deal off. Dave worked for Coast Produce in Watsonville....and in Seattle, and San Diego......
Dave is not a bum.....just a guy who gave up.
Amanda found him and kept him as a pet......and eventually revved him up and put him back in society.
It has been a long month.....and I am struggling to make sense of this post. Today, Dave got his bank account.....got his check from Social Security........the check that he had earned for all his work all those years.....
His first act was to write me a check for two grand.
His second act was to invite Amanda out for a lunch date.....his last lunch date having been twenty-five years ago.....
His third act was to buy a Dremel router table.
His fourth act was to knock down all the plywood and bamboo we had used to hide his trailer from Officer Cocksucker.......and start sprucing up his home zone......
Dave is now a Citizen.....
This morning, the Steelhead Rescue guys came and parked next to Dave's house, and saved another 200 baby steelhead from the Cachagua Creek.....the Creek that Dave keeps clean and clear of debris. That brings the total for the year to over a thousand.....just at Dave's Trailer.
As I left work tonight, I thought I heard a wild cat screaming. I stopped the car and rolled down the window. I realized it was Dave......and his Dremel tool router table, working on some driftwood......making art.
Who needs a Hummer?
posted by Txacoli at 9:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home