Chapter 29

Gerome showed up at my door three weeks after I allowed Tommy’s grandson to use the first of the hobo jungle units. Gerome found that he had made a fairly popular episode. It was gaining a following with kids as well as with homeless advocates.

It was more about Jamie than the movement, which was fine with us. He was a likable kid, and his life was interesting to follow on the street. He interacted as though he was homeless with the people he came into contact with as he wandered around the streets of Vicksburg Ms.

He wasn’t a junkie, he was just a kid who developed an on camera personality. He also smiled all the time, so that helped his ratings. He kept talking about how safe he felt in the the storage box. He was young and strong, so he was probably safe enough.

“Jamie do not mess around with the street people you run into out here. Just do minimal interactions with them. Some of them won’t hesitate to rob you. They will not be bothered one bit it they have to hurt you. Half of them are mental, and the other half are criminals. Just be very careful,” I insisted. Just before that speech, I had asked him to drop out of the program.

“Ed, I’ll be fine. I can handle myself,” he demanded. “besides I love all the attention from the kids at school.

I could tell he had fallen victim to the lies that Gerome was spinning. “At least you are not living in town with the real street people,” I said. “Gerome don’t send him out alone. Do you hear me?”

“Don’t worry half the time Tommy is shadowing us and I’m sure he is armed,” Gerome explained.

“Then god damn it you listen to him. I do not wan’t anything to happen to that kid,” I said. “Or you either.”

“Neither do I Ed. He is a likable kid,” Gerome agreed.

I was worried about the kid. He really was too young to be involved with us old farts. He still thought that he was invincible. That was how we all felt once upon a time. To some extent Gerome was like that. Gerome at least had some training in self defense. He could likely take care of himself and Jamie as well. Even better if Tommy was thrown into the mix.

“Don’t worry about the kid. There is one of us with him every time anyone from the outside interacts with him,” Gerome said. “Nobody wants anything bad to happen to him.”

I nodded my head. Jamie didn’t spend more than a couple of nights a week in the box. It was mostly what Gerome insisted on for the utube show.

Lucinda became our next star. She went from narrating the show to acting in it. At first she just stayed in the container house when Jamie was in school. After a while Jamie wanted to spend more time in the house, so Lucinda needed a house of her own.

Before Tommy and I built a second container house, I called a meeting. “So, I know everyone wants to be involved in this campaign, and I love that you are all involved. But frankly guys two container houses are stretching my ability to provide the infrastructure we are going to need. We need to discuss what happens after Lucinda occupies the container box,” I demanded.

“So we just build an an outside toilet facility. We can install a composting toilet. We can still use your bathroom for showers once a week or so can’t we?” Jamie asked.