The word from the street
PHILIP
“We haven’t really discussed that murder of the St. Catharines’ guy by those four homeless people. ”
TONY
“Well as far as I’m concerned, they must’ve been provoked. Homeless people don’t get in fights with regular folks unless they’ve got to. Maybe if they’re on acid, but you gotta wonder even then. One thing’s for sure — no one’s ever going to find out, one way or the other.”
TONY
“Hey Phil, I met this young guy, about 28 I’d guess, yesterday. We were talking and he asked me why so many people just don’t follow The Golden Rule. You know what I told him was that if you follow The Rule, you get it back in return.
“That’s just the way it is, you know.”
PHILIP
“I see you’ve got yourself a luxury pad for your bum, Mr. Clemens.”
TONY
“And, let me tell you, when I’m done the day, it folds up nice too.”
PHILIP
“How about we do a photo shoot?”
TONY
“Where do I stand?”
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PS: Question – What would make this blog better? Thanks for your comments. – Philip
PHILIP
“Tony, have I asked you about that murder by the four homeless people last week?”
TONY
“Hey, Phil, can we talk about it tomorrow? I need to get some money for some dinner.”
PHILIP
This bike is Tony’s only asset with a street value.
His other assets:
– a box of photos and mementos (stored at a friend’s house);
– a sleeping bag and blankets (hidden during the day); and
– his personal effects (stored at the Don Jail).
PHILIP
He went in front of a judge yesterday but did not make bail. I don’t know what the charge(s) are.
It’s going to be very cold tonight [-20C], so I see a good side to his situation, although I don’t know if Tony would agree.
I’ll tell you more when I speak to him.
PHILIP
“Tony, why don’t you look for a job? One guy even put a question on the blog asking why you don’t look for a job every day. Lots of people genuinely don’t understand why you don’t. I even bet quite a few people who are sympathetic to the homeless issue have problems with the job thing.”
TONY
“OK, well, first of all, you don’t get paid for looking for a job because you’re not at your panhandling station. So how am I supposed to get food when I’m looking for a job?
“And how are folks supposed to call me when I don’t even have a phone? Well, if anyone ever finds out that I went and got a cell phone, I bet most of ’em wouldn’t give me money again. A homeless guy with his own cell phone?! You got to be kidding me. Even if someone gave it to me I’m dead in the water.
“Then there’s that I don’t even have an address. You can’t even a shower except in a shelter or sometimes when you rent a room.
“Look at the bags under my eyes. How’s someone going to hire you if you got bags under your eyes since you don’t get enough sleep?
“I’ve got a bad back, my knees are killing me and there’s my collar bone. So I can’t do stuff with lots of walking or lifting things like I used to. I used to deliver those big phone books. You should try carrying eight phone books on your shoulder going straight uphill.
“Plus my feet are real bad. I’ve got a [deep skin] crack in both of ’em now.
“Anyway, just have those folks walk in my shoes for one day. Then you’ll understand what it’s all about.”
TONY
“You’d think a guy who’s been on the street would know the tricks. Nope — I ran into this homeless guy who was going on about sleeping out when it was cold. So I asked him if he knew the trick about how to stay warm. Well, he doesn’t, so I tell him he should keep a quarter [$0.25] until he’s done for the night. Then he should take his sleeping bag to the laundromat and put it in the dryer for a few minutes. When it comes out, he should roll it up really tight. Then when he gets inside, it’s all toasty and warm and he gets a warm start to the night. He’d been on the street longer than me but he learned that trick from Tony.”
TONY
“Do you see the guy panhandling just on the corner [Tony points south, across the street]? The young blond guy with the beard. I asked him and he said that he’s got a pregnant wife and they were kicked out of the hostel the other day. Well, I checked him out and he checks out. I’ve seen his wife and she’s sure pregnant. If he wasn’t being straight up, I would’ve run him out of here. But if the guy’s for real, then you’ve got to let him be. Everybody’s got a right to eat.
“See, people don’t realize it but homeless folks need to keep up their reputations or otherwise no one ain’t getting nothing from nobody, if there’s fakes out there asking for money. If they ain’t for real, they shouldn’t be there.”
TONY
“There’s this guy who comes by at night sometimes. Sometimes he hands me a pack of smokes, they’re Matinees. Turns out he isn’t allowed to smoke at home, so the woman who lives upstairs goes and follows him whenever he gets caught. Then the guy pretends he’s just bringing me a pack, so there won’t be any trouble.”
PHILIP
“When it gets cold like last night [-5 C], do you go to a sleeping shelter if you can’t get a bed?”
TONY
“Never. Don’t use them. They’re too dangerous.
“People think shelters are safe places because it’s the city that runs them. But they’re not. When the politicians do their visits to check how the shelters are, everyone on the inside knows they’re coming. They clean the place up nice and everyone is on their good behaviour. I’ll sleep outside if I can’t get a good bed.”
PHILIP
Tony isn’t here this morning.
It’s Buster Keaton weather — but colder. No doubt, umbrella vendors are delighting in visions of pedestrians dancing convexxedly with their soon-to-be mangles of nylon and aluminium.
I don’t know where Tony is; probably no one does. The morning weather might have kept him where he slept last night. Perhaps not. I’ve seen Tony at his post in the deepfreeze of mid-winter.
Sidewalk traffic is sparse and hurried. Given today’s inclement weather, Tony would be hard-put to collect enough for a warm bed. When I next see him, I’ll ask him about the irony.
TONY
“Sometimes you get lucky. There’s this Polish guy I see sometimes walking by. He asked me one day if I smoke and I said I did and so he gave me half a pack. It was a du Maurier package but with 10 DK cigarettes inside and a buck. Then the next night, he comes by here and gives me another full pack. Now the strange thing is that I can’t even talk to him because of his broken English.”
Epilogue (Nov 29):
TONY
“So that Polish guy that I talked to you about yesterday shows up today with no cigarettes fo me. Instead, he brings me a cigar. Just like that.”
TONY
“People mostly don’t realize it but homeless people need to watch out for each other. There’s this homeless guy, I know him a little, he’s just finding butts on the street and using them like that so he’s always getting sick with colds and pneumonia and that stuff. So I tell him just to do a little surgery on the butts. I tell him to cut off half the filter and that gets rid of the germs. I smoke new cigarettes mostly so it’s not a problem for me.”
TONY
“I’d have my wife back — that’s what I wish for more than anything else.”
[Tony’s wife died 9 years ago.].
TONY
“Hey Phil, what’s a ‘latte’ ?”
PHILIP
“You don’t know what a ‘latte’ is?”
TONY
“Well I know it’s a coffee drink.
“Now, earlier this morning a lady comes up to me and asks me if I was spending all my money on lattes. I told her that I didn’t know what a latte was and she told me about it. So I’m asking you, do you know what a ‘latte’ is?”
PHILIP
“Hi, how are you?”
TONY
“I feel like crap — what do you think?
“Hey, I got myself a nice breakfast yesterday. I went down to my regular restaurant [approx a mile away; Tony generally rides his bike to get around]. I ordered the biggest one [breakfast] on their menu. It was a stack of 6 pancakes, bacon, ham, 3 three eggs, hash browns, toast and 2 cups of coffee. It set me back about 15 bucks [not the same $15 that was mentioned in the Nov. 11 post].
“When I was down at breakfast, someone stole my new backpack that someone had left for me. All my change in my hat got stolen too. I think I know who did it. He’s always doing something.”
Homeless Man Speaks 