260830 Out of Luck

This old man ran out of enough money to pay the rent and was evicted!

I grabbed my backpack, loaded it with food I had left and headed out.

I was walking along when I saw a sign that said: “Ethel’s cat house.” I thought a cat might be a good companion on my travels. It turned out that there were no cats there, just a lot of women with not enough clothes on to stay warm.

I left there and headed toward a wooded area to find a place to sleep. What I found was two big men who robbed me. They took the last $40 I had and all of my food. The next morning I woke up sore but okay.

I started walking down a street when I saw an old woman weeding her flower bed. She looked at me and said that if I finished the weeding in the front and her back yard, she would give me $10. I said okay and I finished weeding front and back. I knocked on her back door. She came to the door and asked what I was doing in her back yard? She picked up her phone and said she was calling the police if I didn’t leave now. I walked away from her home, thinking when a man is down on his luck, people want to beat him like a dog.

I walked down an alley and a man there said:”Hey you want to make $20? I said: “Hell Yes.” He gave me a bag and told me where to take it and then bring him back $100. I walked to an apartment and knocked on the door. A big man opened the door. I handed him the bag and said:”$100 please.” The man said ok and reached into his back pocket, pulled out a badge and said I was under arrest. He spun me around and put handcuffs on my wrists. Another policeman took me to jail, processed me and put me in a cell. Things were looking grim, but at least I got a meal. I hadn't eaten in a day and a half.

In the morning I went before a judge. She saw that I had no priors on record. I told her I was an old man with no home and no money and did what I did to feed myself. She released me and told me where I could get a free meal.

I went to a soup kitchen and had breakfast. I picked up my tray, walked to the scullery and handed it to a man working there. He mentioned the kitchen always needed help. He directed me to a woman who ran the kitchen and scullery. I told her I had experience working scullery and cooking for large groups when I was in the navy.

I told her I had done both jobs on Guam and at Pearl Harbor. That experience finally paid off. She hired me and I was back to working a grill as I did 61 years ago in the navy.