Road Home: List 7

Proud to wear plastic beads around their necks like jeweled necklaces meant for royalty.

Scrounging for meals out of dumpsters?

I imagine her dirty, grubby hands, and I’m about to protest.

The sound of a downpour racing my way.

“But there’re spots you can count on. This place? The portions are huge. No one finishes their food. People either let the busboys toss it, or they decide to cart it around in case they get the munchies later. Lucky for us, most folks don’t care that much. They know they can afford their next meal. Plus, you know, homeless guilt.”

“So we’re scamming the place?”

The ice-cold drink runs down my throat, the bittersweet cranberry lingering on my tongue.

He pinpoints a man with a tourist shirt who is drinking from one of the oversized neon plastic cups.

“Not that it’s gonna work when you do it. You’re about as intimidating as a kitten.”

This time, Dan picks a large, rotund guy.

Sometime after midnight, I watch Dan and Thomas gorge themselves on fries and burgers, fresh and paid for with cash.

They’re drifting down in a kind of fog, descending in a soft mist, promising a shower soon.

But beyond the darkness in the front, dim lights flicker from inside the windows behind the trees.

A rotting smell originates in the kitchen.

The third hops up with glee when he sees us.

Stevie waves his hand out with a flourish like he’s presenting a palace of gold.

After Stevie and Dan haggle over price, they exchange drugs and money.

He uncurls the plastic and fusses over the white powder, carefully placing it on the spoon.

Thomas’s foot keeps tapping, more severe now.

“Will you be partaking this evening, young man?”

In almost no time at all, a look of immense pleasure crawls across his face and his eyes roll back in his head.

My whole body is on high alert.

Inside, I’m all turmoil.

I try to survey my surroundings, to make shapes out of shadows.

I recall all the times, being a little boy, sleeping under my Star Wars sheets, my window open, the rain outside lulling me to sleep with its natural rhythm.