Second Shelter Stop

 

 

I’m back at the shelter.

It’s closing for the night.

All day guests need to leave.

 

Lanna's got to go. She’s willing,

but her power chair is busted.

One wheel won’t turn.

They weigh six hundred pounds.

Lanna’s another three and

can’t walk on her own.

 

I grab a chair and help her sit.

Then, I push the power-chair

across the floor and up the switch

back disability ramp outside.

 

A staff member watches the power-chair

as I help Lanna into a wheeled, office chair.

 

This is a ride you cannot pay for at Disneyland,

I say as I roll the chair across the floor.

 

As I swing her into the switch backs, I say,

People pay extra for Gs on the turns.

 

She laughs.

 

I place her eight feet from the front door.

 

Staff gives her a blanket

and tells her to talk

to the director in the morning.

 

 

 

Comments

[Fritz]

What time was it when you had to leave her there? What's the weather like?

[Ev]

Heartbreaking, really.

It's even worse in the bay area. They send people to San Francisco on busses from other states. Give them $50 to get on the bus, to become somebody else's problem.

So many people on the streets that the crowds step over nonresponsive homeless lying on the sidewalk.

There is a crew for cleaning up human feces. They can never keep up.

[RD]

@Fritz,

52 degrees and dropping with mist and potential for rain.

[fritz]

so it was getting wet and getting colder. How "humane" of them to give her a blanket.

[RD]

The fire marshal caps the numbers. If they fail to comply, the shelters is closed down.