Okay, okay, so I just went back to Buffalo. But this is about what happened the two weeks I was there, and how I wound up back in hell on earth.
I arrived Sunday night, exhausted after three flights and famished since I hadn’t eaten since saturday evening. I refuse to pay $9 for a small sandwich, no matter how good it looked, or how hungry I was. Thankfully, I found some very helpful youngsters at the hotel who helped me take my luggage upstairs to my room. I then went to sleep, thankful the trip was finally over.
the next morning, Monday, I called the rental office of a room I had qualified for but refused because it had no kitchen, not even a fridge. I figured I’ll make it work somehow, maybe I’d even be forced to change my eating habits and lose some weight! Hey! Wouldn’t that be something?
The lady on the other side of the phone remembered me, and looked up my file and… told me I hadn’t passed the credit check in the first place and whoever told me I had qualified was mistaken.
Dashed!
And just like that, I was right back where I had been back in February… no money for a security deposit and limited cash for the hostel. Yet, I soldiered on and kept calling listings and looking for a room to rent. Maybe this time, I hoped, I’d catch a break. Maybe someone will take pitta on a disabled guy and accept the state contract instead of cash for security deposit. Maybe this time will be different.
Just maybe.
Even when I was forced to sleep outside Starbucks the next Monday night, in the freezing rain, I kept hoping for a better outcome. Even Tuesday night, still outside Starbucks on the sidewalk, my backpack and small duffel bag next to me, sunk into my fleece lined jacket but cold and in pain, I hoped and hoped and didn’t give up hoping.
Then, with only half an hour to go before 5 am when I could go back inside Starbucks and warm up… I fell asleep for about 20 minutes and woke up to find my backpack and duffel bag had been stolen.
…
In one fell swoop, I lost my laptop, iPad, DSLR, headphones, ALL MY MEDS!! even my socks and underwear had fallen victim to someone who saw a disabled man in trouble and decided the thing to do was to rob him.
That sealed my fate and brought me back to the worst place someone down on their luck could go. As I had expected, the ridicule, the derision, and the belittling began the first night, and is yet to stop.
As I write this, my gastritis has once again after 14 years, flared up and I’m working on an ulcer. All that on top of my usual spine and nerve pain.
Let’s see what life has in store for yours truly next.
I’ll keep you posted.