Chapter 19

‎After I returned from the fishing trip I cleaned the fish, then put them through the heavy duty food processor. I had bought the expensive restaurant quality machine for just that kind of thing. I got twenty one fish bricks from the mess of fish. I ground them so fine the were unrecognizable as fish. The bones I had missed with my fillet knife were ground into harmless bits. It was my plan to bag them in packages of four blocks each, then freeze them for deliver to John and Lynn. I might give a packaged to Linda as well, if I ever heard from her again.

‎The day was almost over when I finished with my chores, and I hadn’t made the call to volunteer. I guessed that the road to hell was paved with good intentions, like someone once said.

‎I called a little old lady in the Department of Social Services, before she left for the day. “Hello Jen,” I said into the phone. This is Ed Rollins. I think I need your help.”

‎‎”What do you need Sergeant?” she asked.

‎‎”It’s just plain Ed now. I have been retired a year now and I’m getting bored. Along with the boredom came a little depression. You know it’s hard to be retired.” ‎‎ ‎‎”I don’t know about that, but I’d like to try it,” she said, “So what can I do for you?”

‎‎”I’m looking for something I can do on a volunteer basis. Something that will expose me to people who could use my help. You something to make me feel useful again,” I explained.

‎‎”We don’t do that kind of thing right now, but let me run some things by the boss,” Jen suggested.

‎‎”Okay hon, but don’t pitch me any bleeding heart shit. I want to make a difference, not listen to people cry on my shoulder. You know build a packing case home for a homeless guy kind of thing,” I said.

‎‎”I’ll keep that in mind,” Jen replied.

‎I had no idea where that idea came from, but the more I thought about it that evening the more I liked it. If the homeless would rather live on the streets, than in the shelters there had to be a reason. Maybe we could at least keep them alive over night. In a safe place like the shelter but with almost no restrictions. Keep the predators away from them should be our number one priority.

‎First we needed to find somewhere to build my hobo camp, I decided. I could look for a place while Jen looked for some kind of volunteer work for me to do.

‎I knew it had to be a site with good access to the city. It wouldn’t work, if the city came up with a site just to get the homeless out of town. They had to have access to some county services.

‎So I used an on line map to set up a geographical area. From there I decided to do a systematic drive around. I didn’t plan to get permission from the owners. I just planned to find the right place, then worry about permission.

‎I fell asleep easily that night. I wasn’t depressed for the first time in two or three weeks. I just went out when I hit the bed. I’m sure I dreamed, but I had no idea what the dream was about.