For the love of a good tale....

Today I went out to exercise my knee (I’m having no pain or stiffness at all, so I’m contemplating not having the surgery done). Passing a group of unhoused people and their baskets and bundles, I heard a gentle, “Hey, Sis!”

It was Elden, who I’ve known for several years and blipped awhile back,  and he had a whale of a story to tell:

“I been doing odd jobs, roofing, carpentry, whatever I could find. This past summer I had more work than I could handle. I only had like three days off the whole summer, I was a working fool, I can tell you. I had a dream, see, I was going to buy me a boat and live on it. I found one for $14,000, a real beauty. A steal at that price. So I kept on living in the street, saving my money. Put it all in the bank, and I saved up $18,000. I had enough to get the boat and some supplies. Went to buy the boat, gave them my debit card, and it came back insufficient funds. I said, ‘What!’ Come to find out, I had all these fines due from my drinking days. Property damage, assault, what have you. And nowadays everything goes into computers, so all the cities where I had fines due, they found me and they took the money. Left me with nothing but $37. I had a withdrawal from Fort Lauderdale for $1200, and I don’t even remember I was ever in Fort Lauderdale. But I had some pretty wild years. So here I am, still in the street. The boat sold, of course. It wasn’t going to sit around at that price. So now I’ll have to start over. But it’s all good. I know how to take care of myself. Next summer I’ll try again. Now all my fines are paid, so maybe I’ll get me a boat yet.”