A glass of water... cold wet nights in seattle

[bholdr]

I had a couple interactions with the street people around my place tonight. What started as a fun evening and a nice little buzz was pretty much killed by these two different encounters... um... hold on a sec, though(i have a point, i swear... read on...).

A little context:

It started as a pretty good day. Productive, anyway. Even though EVERY DAMN THING in my building broke down, i got a lot of work done. The hot water recirc pump burned out, so half of my tenants have to take cold showers or none at all. They are not happy- at all. I couldn't fix the pump... but, hell.. my boss was pleased that I was even able to identify the problem, given the hundred-year-old mix-n-match plumbing around this dump. A (real) repairman will fix it in the morning. so that's taken care of- it only took four gaddamn hours.

THEN... I went outside and picked up the overnight deposit of cig butts, paper plates, beer cans, and, oh yeah, used needles. Thanks, Street people! I like this 'hood... but, c'mon. Then the call box broke... then a bunch of fuses blew (I TOLD you to not to use that space-heater, dammit!), and so on and so forth... ugh. i finished everything by 6.

Now... some football, some beer, ahhhh... (colts are goin' DOWN on dec. 24th in Sea-town, baby!). A buddy called and said he could get me+1 on the list for QuestLove at the War Room. nice. I killed some time playing PLO, won a few buy-ins, took care of some bizness, and things were lookin' up for B...

okay... back on track:

Feelin' fine, i walked to my local pub. It was about 30 degrees out, with a stiff wind and mixed rain and snow, a miserable night. I drank a Beam rocks (which warmed me up a bit) and took off for the show.

first guy:

On the way, an obviously homeless local dude in a doorway asked for a smoke. He was about 40, wearing jeans and a jacket. He was very cold and shivering. i asked if he was alright, gave him a smoke and a couple bucks, and continued on. The show was PIMP, but i didn't know anyone there, so i took off after an hour. On the way home, i saw the guy again. His lips were blue, he was NOT shivering anymore, he was soaking wet. I was a little drunk, so it didn't hit me 'till i got home that he was clearly hypothermic.

After thinking a bit i walked back to where he was to see if he was, well, still alive, i suppose. He was gone. I hope he doesn't die tonight. what a fkn' bummer, 'eh?

But who am i to solve the world's problems, right? so i go home.

second dude:

About a block away from my pad, i ran into a pale little street-rat kid- you know the type- a hustler-in-training, a drunk/high teenager in over his head. He was dry heaving by some dumpsters. (now, i dunno why i do sht like this, but...). He looked like he was 16-19 or so and strung the hell out on something.

Me: "you good, man?"

Him: "no. [gag] help me. [hack] Please, i need a glass of water!"

Umm... me: "there's a gas station three blocks up the street."

him: "I can't move. PLEASE"

He fell down, collapsed at my feet, more or less, and then got back up and started dry heaving again. The kid was MESSED UP.

You can't refuse WATER to a man that's begging for it, right? *sighs* I got him a bottle of water, which seemed to help a lot. I told him to find a warm place to sleep, and finally got home, cold and wet myself by this time. I thought about finding a shelter and sending him in that direction, or maybe calling the cops, who know how to deal with this BS, but instead i'm playing cards and smokin' some... well.. you know.

So that's how my buzz was killed tonight. It's easy to ignore the less fortunate and/or fked up people in my area... usually. it was in-my-face tonight. Damn depressing- thinking that there may be people dying for lack of a good coat in my city tonight. had to share, sorry if it brings you down, too.


*sigh* [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Reality's a bitch, you did more than most people would have.

[tonypaladino]

you did alright. the kid who was dry-heaving on the floor I might have called an ambulance for.

[frostbrn]

Just out of curiosity, what part of Seattle do you live in? It sounds like either Cap. Hill or Queene Anne. I live in Pioneer Square and see this kind of stuff day in and day out non-stop. The one thing you have to remember is that so many of these people come here enduring the rain and cold for the ENTIRE winter mostly becuase there are a lot of people who will give them handouts, and there are a lot of agencies/charities here that will give them all of their essentials for free so they can use their hard earned money on more useful items (read: crack).

[bholdr]

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Just out of curiosity, what part of Seattle do you live in? It sounds like either Cap. Hill

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yup.

[ QUOTE ]
The one thing you have to remember is that so many of these people come here enduring the rain and cold for the ENTIRE winter mostly becuase there are a lot of people who will give them handouts, and there are a lot of agencies/charities here that will give them all of their essentials for free so they can use their hard earned money on more useful items (read: crack).

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sure. it still sucks that they may freeze to death, though.