hey y'all . you must realize for a person living on the streets it can get pretty boring. i don't have much problem with it though, because i have a vivid imagination, and i'm a people watcher also. i am very amazed at the stuff i see people do in the public eye. you would just have to see it to believe it.
i feel very secure on the streets. my street smarts have come back in full force. there is little that goes on around me that i don't see or hear. my judgement of trouble places, and people have heightened. most of the time i walk alone with minimal trouble.
i want to tell about last night. i went to what i call my covey hole. it's where i sleep at night. it's actually on the ground by one of the interstates off ramp. usually, by the time that it get dusk i'm ready to settle down. sometimes i head that way before dusk, but the sun has to be down to the point that people are using their car lights to drive, but not quite dark yet.
last night i started heading out at 6:30, by the time i actually get there is dark enough not to blow my cover. i always spread my blanket on the ground beside the wall. then i sit down taking from my bag what i will need at night. medications, food, drinks, ...etc. then i aways pull my shoes , and socks off for a while. everything needs to be aired out including my feet.
now last night was no different that any other night, or so it seemed. i've grow used to the people walking down the street headed home after a hard days work. i can't actually predict the time it is, by who i see. i've got a watch, but rarely look at it once i go in for the night. it's rare if anybody notices my sitting there leaned up against that wall. i told you i have a vivid imagination, so to me i'm like a super spy, or james bond, but i never get the girl. i'm hiding in the wide open, and i get some sort of cheap thrill from doing it.
last night i saw blinking lights in the parking lot across the street, so being the super sleuth that i am, i needed to look closer. it turned out just to be a large dump truck sitting in that parking lot. i really didn't think much of it at the time.
then i saw another big dump truck turning into the parking lot, and it pulled right up behind him.now i new that something had to be going on when a third truck pulled behind the both of them. there is never anybody that uses that parking lot after dark, besides the police, and they are doing the same thing that i am, hiding in plain sight.
before long i figured out what was going on when i saw the brush truck pulling in the lot followed by a water truck. the state of Florida was going to pave a road, but which one? if they paved the one in front of me i would be exposed to their bright light that the use while paving.
i was sitting there wondering whether i should repack my bag, and get out of there, or just wait it out. about that time it had come to me that nobody was using the off ramp. i stayed still listening for somebody to come off it, and nobody ever did, so i thought surely it was the off ramp that they we going to be working on.
just about that time i heard the god awful racket come down one of the other streets. i really didn't know what it was, but i knew that i had heard this noise before. just about the time i remembered what it was this gigantic road machine came into sight. it had very bright light on it, and it would vibrate the ground over a block away, because it had tracks on it like a military tank does.
during all this time i had been watching carefully and singing. yep,...........that's right, i was singing. the man that will not sign in front of anybody, simply loves to sing when i'm alone. i know that i'm not any good that why i do it alone.
all of a sudden i heard a strange noise over my head. i instantly grew quiet. after a few minutes of listening i came to the conclusion that somebody was using a tape measure over my head. i sit there with great hope that the road machine was heading to the off ramp. the closer it got the louder is was, and i was at the point of holding my breath when the gigantic road machine started heading up the off ramp. i let my breath out , and gave a sigh of relief that it didn't go on down the one way street in front of me. i wasn't actually sure where they were going to pave. i was just relieved that it wasn't the road in front of me.
as the big noise, i'm sorry, the big noisy road machine got closer to me i but my back flat against the wall. the vibrations grew stronger and stronger. i really didn't mind all the noise as the vibration soothed my aching back. it felt so wonderful that i just closed my eyes, and press my back up against the wall even harder. it wasn't long until the vibrations got week, and the noise level settled down.
i grouched down on my hands and knee's to crawl forward, so i could check out the action from the parking lot. the big dump trucks were heading my direction. when i saw that everything in that lot was gone, i slowly back tracked on my hands and knee's. i imagine that james bond would have duck walked, or something spectacular like that, but even using my imagination i can't pull off those kinds of things.
i heard the roar of the dump trucks, and then i heard the squeal of the brakes. the all of a sudden i heard that loud beeping noise that heavy machinery make when they are backing up. at that point in time i realized that they were going to do the off ramp. i still wasn't sure that i would be able to stay there. i wasn't going to mind the noise, i wasn't too sure that i could handle breathing the toxic fumes that come with paving a road.
it was eight o'clock when a supervisor over the operation pulled up at the end of the ramp. he was directly in my sight, as i was his. that made me a little bit nervous, and i went into my role playing mode. i sit very still as i watched him get out of the truck, and head around in front of the truck to the ramp. whew,.....that was close, but he didn't see me. no sooner that i took that last breath, another supervisor pulled in behind him, and was even closer to than he was. i repeated the same process of just being really still, and watching. he never left the truck, and then slowly back out in the road and went on his way.
you can bet your grandma's favorite that i was having the time of my life secretly roll playing last night. i really wasn't in any great danger if i were spotted, but i had to test the waters to really know how well hidden that i really was to begin with.
now, i was sitting on the side of the off ramp, and wall was about ten foot there, and steadily going up. all of a sudden there were bright lights every where on the ramp. then with a flash they started the road machine up. when it actually started doing what it does. that's grinding up the old road to use as a base for the new asphalt i was thrilled. the grinding sound of pavement colliding with metal blades was great. then the smoke show had started. the smoke just billowed from the machine, and was going through the lights took me back to my concert days, but this was better than any smoke machine, because it was real.
i simple sit there with back up against the wall getting a great massaging action going on. i figured my super sleuth game was over, so i popped the top on my favorite can of chef boyarde', and became to eat. the smoke was billowing over me, and fading off in the still of the night. it actually looked good the way that it traveled.
it was getting close to ten, and i have just finished my meal. i got up, and walked over to the fence to relieve myself. gosh danggitt, there was a worker sitting on the side of the guard rail about ten feet in front of me..........the game was on again. i had to tinkle really bad, and i was willing to take a chance of getting seen to do so. i new that no matter how much noise that i made that he wasn't able to hear it, so i went ahead , and started doing my business. i was about half way done, and he turned his head toward my general direction talking with somebody else. then i done something that i never in my life done before, i stood flat footed, finishing my business while looking into another man's eyes, and thank God that never looked my direction. whew,.................i'm really not sure what would have happened if he had of, but i probably would have that part out of my story.
after that little event i was shaken a bit, so i decided just to stop this imaginary game that i had going. i was quite sure that my covey hole was a very safe place to be at night. i went back, and i set back down again beside the wall, and to the right of me there were three workers sitting on the guard rail. in my heart i new that i was safe, and didn't have anything to worry about, and instantly when that thought passed through my mind, someone threw something over the side. i saw it, and i saw where it hit, and i thought it was a slab of rock. then suddenly this dude looked over , and he saw me. he said to his comrades that there was a dude down there. the two men looked over, and the third one spoke to me. he said, "what's up?" and i replied, " just chillin'."
nary other word was said, but i finally knew that i had been seen, and there for i was busted. i layed down to go to sleep, because i was safe again. those three working class men would not call the law on me, and i was confident that they would make sure that nothing was thrown down on me.
i'm confident of another thing. if you don't have imagination, and you don't absolutely let it run wild sometimes. then you are a old fuddy duddy!! try it sometime soon, but be care full. it can become habit forming!!
much love.......................Mr. illusion of confusion
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