Fall 2020

At the barbecue yesterday, a family biked thru the park, and the dad claimed that a homeless woman’s dog had lunged and bitten his son. No one had witnessed a bite or even a commotion, and the boy didn’t seem to have a scratch – completely fine. They left but called the police, who arrived shortly after.

I didn’t know the woman’s name but she was one of our people. She was so scared. I got her a bottle of water and asked her name: [Redacted]. She got panicky after a while, thinking that the cops would show up to her camp (they knew her and knew where she stayed) and take her dog away. Immediately, T and I drove to a nearby camp of 5 or so, and asked if she could stay with them. I recognized someone there. He knew her name; said she should “come home.” We told her this when we picked her up.

She calmed down in the car. I took her and the big ass dog to their camp to start packing up and moving her. The site was dirty, and it smelled strong. I mostly sat with the dog while she packed. Garbage was everywhere – everything was everywhere. She had more things than I expected, and was stuffing it all into whatever bags or containers she had. I started doing trips to the car. By the time it was all packed up (maybe 7:45??) I was in a full sweat, and my car was stuffed, with only the 2 front seats open. [Redacted]’s big dog sat on her lap for the drive. We stopped for ice + water at the gas station. I dropped her off around 8:10pm and we unloaded everything.

I just kept chugging along, one thing to the next, one task to the next, so determined to come through for everyone who was relying on me. Finally, I went back to the park to get T and give him a ride back to the Red Roof. As soon as he got out of the car, I just burst into tears. I was dirty all over. I had learned so much of a harsher world in a matter of hours. I didn’t know what to think because there was so much on my heart. Someone from the barbecue called to make sure I was OK.

When I came home, I washed my hands. I sat on the floor for a while and cried more. Eventually I showered and changed and went to sleep.