August 27, 2005

La fiesta



At the end of winter and throughout spring, Steve lived on the front porch of what used to be La Fiesta restaurant (pictured). He kept a mattress in the part of the porch that made a little alcove and nobody bothered him there despite the fact that he was just a few yards from the road. Some of you may remember that a year ago June, Steve left his apartment and headed back to the street in order to help his girlfriend. He's been out fifteen months now.

I saw him in July for the first time in a while and he said,

Now I've got a story for you.

That statement can be the kiss of death, but not when it's Steve, so I pulled up a folding chair and he started telling it.

You know I been sleeping up there at La Fiesta, on the porch, right?

Yeah, I said.

Well, I was passed out on that mattress one night and I felt somebody lay down beside me; on the inside, next to the wall. I just assumed it was Becky because she hadn't been back for a while. So, I roll over about half asleep still, and open my eyes and I'm face to face with this giant black man that's so strung out on crack, his eyes are like baseballs. And they're right here (he holds his hand out about eight inches from his face, to show me).

Jesus, I said, then what happened?

Well first, I jumped straight up in the air and then I told him, You're gonna' have to come up off my mattress mother... (he gestures the rest randomly, to spare me the profanity). You 'aint invited to lay there, I told him.

Then, he said, next thing I know, that sumbitch is chewing my ear off Sue.

He turns his head to show me the badly injured ear, one in a long line of injuries he's suffered over the last few years (including being hit twice by a car, and beaten badly enough that he spent two weeks in the hospital, before Christmas which he said, was a relief, since the temperature dipped into the single digits).

He would've gotten my whole ear, but this lady cop came out of nowhere and pulled him off. Thank God for her. I don't even know where she came from but seriously, if that guy'd ate my ear off he'd have had to kill me after that.

We all laughed and I remained amazed that fifteen months of drinking and sleeping outdoors hasn't erased his sense of humor. There's still a good, funny guy in there who doesn't feel like anyone owes him anything.