Another Christmas, Another one where I was shipped off to a
relative whom I did not know.
I was to fly into St
Louis , but the weather was terrible. I was placed on a
train to go to Springfield ,
Illinois Alton , IL
I had an address for Springfield .
I did not know where to go in Alton .
The old train station had nothing in it but some old benches and was as cold as
outside. The station master yelled at me that I couldn’t stay in there forever
anyway.
I started to walk. I hear that some churches had services
near the river but I was not sure which way the river was. I walked and walked and
came to an old crummy mall.
At its edge I saw demolition of one of the stores. I thought
I saw a flicker of light. At least it would be out of the wet snow and howling
wind.
Someone had dug a hole into the wall of the mall and a bit
of heat seeped in. More faces appeared in the gloom
I’m hungry, said someone from the darkness.
I have food from the Crisis Center but nowhere to make it
and I forgot how to cook anyway.
I can cook a little. We will need a fire. -I can start one
with this cigar butt I’m chewing on. We can find scraps of paper for kindling
and junk form the demolition to light.
Can you get me water and pots or a container to put over the
fire? We are going to need a lot of salt and pepper. -I, um, borrow a lot of it
from the churches where I eat. I have plenty. When I emptied one, it caught the
light. We set up a few of them as Christmas decorations. Someone found some
limbs from the Christmas tree stand outside. Someone hung red plastic necklaces
on the boughs.
First bean soup was started, the quick way to get the beans
softer instead of sitting over night. Someone had a sack of potatoes. Most of
them went into a pot for some potato soup. I placed some in the ashes to roast.
Some folks dipped in the soup-better than nothing, I suppose…Hey, this is
pretty good, at least I haven’t died yet.
Leftover chicken appeared from Schwegel’s. We put that on a makeshift rotisserie to
roast. Someone had a ham bone Hansen’s Meat Market for the bean soup. Some
dented cans appear out of backpacks and bags: corn, carrots, and green beans. Some
went in soup and some heated through. Everybody seemed to have a cup for soup
and we made do for plates, mostly cardboard.
For appetizer we had some beef sticks. A young woman with
three sniffling kids had cheese crackers. One kid had some cheese whiz that
made the kids laugh when we squirted some out. An old grizzled man had old
celery from Schwegels. I took the tops
for soup and we at the rest after I took the old big ones and put them in the
pots too.
Other people filed in. Hey, it smells good in here. I caught
a whiff down by the 5A animal shelter. Pizza hut boxes appeared from nowhere and
half a roast beef from Arby’s.
People leaned back. -That is the first time I was full in I don’t know how long. -That was the first
warm food I had since I stole a Thanksgiving dinner form the Knights of
Columbus feast. -That was the first time I didn’t have junk food in ages. -For
a little creep, you are handy to have around.
The Santa from the mall called in. I don’t know how this
happened, but I have real presents in my bag instead of wadded up newspaper and
old boxes. Anybody want one? They dove
at the old man in a rush. The bag did not get smaller. Every time someone got a
present, the bag stayed the same size. I got a cell phone and folks helped me
operate it. I left a message for the people in Springfield .
That morning, everybody scattered. It’s the cops. They
yelled in -we are looking for Bobby Stepson. I answered, here I am. They said,
we are trying to get you together with your new foster family. They drove
through the blizzard to try to find you. That night, I slept in a clean bed for
the first time in years. The woman called it a manger.
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