Chapter 12: Terry’s Story 02 – Getting A Life

January – April – Year 2 I was walking from the bus stop to the church with my paycheck in my pocket, when I was approached by a guy.

“Give me your money.” He spoke quietly and pointed a knife at me.

“I don’t have any money. Shit look at me I am barely dressed better than you.”

“Fuck that, I know you guys get paid on every other Friday and this is it. Give me your money.” His hand was waving the knife around.

“I have a check, but it I don’t have any cash.”

“I said give!” And he rushed me.

I don’t know how I did it, but I hit his arm and spun around and tripped him as he fell to the ground, he fell on his knife and stabbed himself. He began to scream and writhe around on the ground. I started yelling towards the door of the storefront that was nearest. When the door opened to respond to the noise I yelled at the person in the door.

“Call 9-1-1. This man has been stabbed. Hurry!”

I quickly opened the man’s coat and wrapped my coat sleeve around the handle. I somehow knew to leave the knife in place because pulling it out would make it bleed more. I was going to pressed down hard on the wound, but it seemed that made the knife go deeper. Other people began to gather around, and I asked two of them to hold the man as still as possible while I continued direct pressure around the wound.

Suddenly the man went still and exhaled. I immediately checked his neck for a pulse and there was none. I hollered out that the guys heart had stopped and that someone call 9-1-1 again and tell them. I hollered at a guy standing close by that he should keep pressure on the wound. I hammered down on the mans chest and began doing chest compressions. I paused after about a minute and placed my mouth on the man’s mouth and blew hard into his lungs. I went back to the chest compressions.

I went on like this for what seemed like forever when I began to hear a siren approaching. That was the first time I thought about my own situation and anonymity. I continued working at CPR until a man in a uniform came to me.

“What is going on?” I looked up to see the uniform was an EMT.

“He tried to rob me and when we argued he fell on his knife. I applied direct pressure to the wound and then hollered for help. He quit breathing and I checked for a pulse. He had no pulse and no breathing, so I started CPR and have been doing it since.” As I was explaining another medic began putting on his AED.

The AED gave commands and the medic removed his hands from the wound and the machine shocked the man. The machine did it one more time and the man began to breathe. One of the medics applied an oxygen mask and I quietly backed away and melted backwards into the crowd.

I took an indirect route back to the church and told the priest what happened. I also explained that I had several uncashed paychecks and asked how to get the money changed to a useful form.

“Terry, you have an ID and a Social Security number, why don’t you go to a bank, open an acount and get an ATM card?” I thought for a moment and remembered what an ATM card was.

“Can you suggest a bank that is close by?”

“Even better, I would suggest that you use a credit union. They have lower fees and better interest rates and make loans easier to get. There is one just a block away.”

I walked over there on Saturday morning and opened an account and they were able to create a new ATM card there on the spot. Cool technology! I had to open a savings account as well and left the minimum $25 in that account.

“Well, Father, I have a bank account and I really didn’t think about how much money I really had. It would appear that I might be able to go to a cut-rate auto dealer and get a small car. I wonder if I know how to drive.” I chuckled.

“My son, you must know how. No one gets to be your age without knowing how to drive. Let’s see.”

He took me out back to his car, directed me into the driver seat and gave me the key. I stared for a moment and looked at the key and at the controls. Then putting in the key and starting the car, I put it in gear and drove around the parking lot.

“I guess that answers that question. Now all I need to do is study the book and take the test.”

Back at the church I was given the DMV booklet and I studied it for the rest of the weekend. I was determined to be ready for Monday and I was. By late Monday morning I had a driver’s license issued by the Great State of Texas. That meant that I could go to the local job office and find a better job. But I liked what I was doing, and it was very low key.

A month later, fate jumped up and gave me another kick in the butt. I was walking through the back part of the warehouse when I heard a loud crash. I ran to the back of the warehouse to see a large stack of materials leaning over on top of one of the forklifts. Before I knew what I was doing, I had run and jumped into another forklift and started it up. I drove it over to the stack and began to lift the top of it backwards and back onto a stable base.

I got the top of the stack high enough that the two of us could lift the thing back onto a balanced steady foundation. The bosses were standing off to the side watching as the two of us steadied the load and finally got it stabilized. I jumped out of my lift and ran to the other lift to see if the operator was alright.

“You ok?”

“Yeah man. That was close. Thanks, I owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it. No big deal.”

“Yes it is. I just found out my wife was going to have a baby and if that had fallen anymore it would have tipped over my lift and I would have been crushed. I owe you my life and I don’t shirk on my debts.”

“Hey! Come over here you two.” One of the bosses yelled at us.

“Yes sir.”

“Where did you learn to drive a lift?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember ever operating one before.”

“Well that was one of the best jobs of operating a lift I have ever seen. I want you doing it full time. Any problem with that?”

“Yeah, maybe. Can we talk in your office?”

The boss checked first to be sure that the other driver was ok, and we walked out of the warehouse and up to the front, where the boss led me into his office. He pointed at a chair and I sat down.

“Please explain how you operated a lift without having operated a lift.”

“First, thank you for taking me on.”

“When Father Mulcahey vouched for you, that was enough for me, Terry.”

“I know this is a strange situation, but you don’t know how strange. I was serious that I don’t know if I ever operated a lift. So, before you do anything else, I need to tell you some things about me.” I took a deep breath and continued. “Terry is not my name as far as I know. I don’t know who I am.”

“What?”

“I woke up in a hospital a few months ago and didn’t know who I was. I freaked out and snuck out of the hospital. I was on the streets for a few weeks until I found the church. Father Mulcahey had me work for a few months at the church, I think he was checking me out, before he set me up with you.”

“You have no idea who you are?’

“Nope, and when I woke up I found that my clothes had blood on them and there was a cop outside my room. I heard him say that some important people were looking for me. The clothes I had were not top dollar and I noticed that I used to have a wedding ring. I thought that maybe I had done something stupid to somebody, so I have been keeping a low profile and part of that is not going to the police.”

“I would really like to take your job and move out of the church rooms, so I thought that it was best to tell you the whole story up front.”

“I only know you as Terry Smith. As far as I am concerned that is who you are and Father Mulcahey says that you are a good and honest man. I don’t know how you could be a criminal and be as good a guy as I have found you to be. If you want the job as forklift operator, it is yours. We have been known to hire men who are not here legally so in my mind this is no different. But you never heard that from me.”

“What did you say, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Never mind.”

We smiled at each other and I left to go back to work.

I was promoted to be a forklift driver and I must say that it was a very good promotion. After my second paycheck, I had enough money to put a deposit on a small one-bedroom apartment. I now had my own car and my own home. I had insurance on the car and health insurance through my job. I was damn near an upright citizen.