Home Chapter 13

     We settled into our new site and tent. The road in was blocked to cars by several large tree trunks which we assumed were knocked down by Rita, the hurricane that came through the area lately.

      Robo went home to his trailer while Ron was given a one man tent by an old friend of his. He set it up at the far side of the fire pit. Later Dave showed up with another small tent which he set up about twenty yards down the road from us. So now with the five of us our little community was complete except for occasional visitors which were welcomed but discouraged from staying very long.

      With the cold wet weather came Thanksgiving and we feasted on contributions from passers by on the highway so Oscar gained another few pounds as except for his daily trip to do his thing and exercise walking with Des, the rest of the time he stayed under the covers with Jim staying warm. The days passed with Jim doing a lot of reading alone in the tent with Oscar while Des went about obtaining food and supplies for both of them.

     Some city official came up with a plan or scam to sell gift bags to clueless but well meaning people to give to the homeless on the street. This plastic bag contained a tiny toothbrush and a miniscule tube of toothpaste, a bar of motel size soap and various small trinkets. All of the contents could have been purchased at a dollar store for less than ten dollars. The city sold these bags for twenty dollars. If someone with a brain had thought it through, then Jim who had no teeth would not have ended up with twenty tiny toothbrushes and tiny tubes of toothpaste.

     A lot of people on the street are homeless but not really stupid. If anyone has asked, there was no need for a bag. A simple Christmas envelope containing coupons for a cold drink, a burger and fries from McDonalds or Burger King would have meant more than a dozen useless plastic bags. And no one ever admitted where the profit went.

     After the new year 2014 came with a strong north wind we found out why the site was abandoned in the first place. The noisy crash of falling trees echoed this morning. It seems water damaged the lower trunks of tall trees so they could no longer support the weight, snapped off and fell. Des immediately set out to find a new site.