"Texas Drifter's Thanksgiving"
There is nothing in the Bill of Rights or Constitution that declares private citizens to be wards of any government. Public sector bureaucrats are not the peoples’ natural guardians. Threats to individual liberties are directly related to increases of any government's powers. Citizens who allow bureaucrats to become custodians of their rights are fools volunteering to be slaves.
The assignment was a way to make a few extra dollars during the holidays. Texas Drifter was appointed to settle the affairs of a recently deceased derelict.
Describing the deceased's efficiency apartment is an easy exercise in recalling on scene details. The residence was one room that consisted of half a kitchen, small dinning area, a smaller living area with a couch that folds out into a bed (opened); a small black and white television with a coat hangar for an antenna sitting on a cardboard box next to the door that entered the bathroom.
The rest room can best be described as a public sector facility at a downtown bus station that had not been cleaned for twenty years. The hide away bed was covered with clothes for sheets, and part of the carpet from the floor which was being used as a blanket.
There are no words to describe the apartment's smell; possibly because the clothes closet was being used as an in-house dumpster. The left sink was filled with dirty pans, plates, and silverware. The right sink was brimming over with empty bean and dog food cans.
Next to the moldy generic bean and quality dog food cans set a pancake hot plate which contained one can of half opened beans and one half opened can of dog food. It was later learned that the deceased had been using the hot plate to warm the beans and dog food before mixing them into a bowl known as ghetto chile.
A handwritten note was found behind the hot plate that said, "Remove paper labels before heating to prevent fire". Your instructor was almost afraid to open the refrigerator. Utter amazement cannot describe how this later surveillance instructor felt when he discovered that the interior of the icebox was cleaner than most hospital operating rooms.
What I found was a sanitized refrigerator full of prescription drugs arranged by names of those who had been prescribed the medications. It was later learned that the deceased had taken it upon himself to store and administer medications for the area's homeless population.
The freezer unit of the icebox contained what appeared to be the deceased's private papers, along with some type of diary. At this point, the instructor started looking for a place to sit down and review the new found documents.
The apartment's curtains had been replaced with the most recent Sunday newspaper comics. These paper curtains provided the only color and access for light to the otherwise dimly lit apartment. While dragging a chair over to the window; there was a knock at the door.
A surprised vagabond stated that he had come by to read the Sunday Comics and see if there was any ghetto chile left. I said that there was no chile left to which he shrugged his shoulders, and quipped while walking over to read the curtains, "There goes Thanksgiving Dinner".
Texas Drifter asked isn't there some place else where you can go for Thanksgiving Dinner?
The response, "Not and be with friends; besides that, being put on display for publicity is advertising not compassion.
I suggested that the tramp take the curtains with him since I was busy. The response was "If I do that, nobody else will be able to see the funnies."
He then asked if he could turn on the radio. I responded that I had not seen a radio. The homeless man then walked over to the television and turned it on with the following remarks, "when it don't have a picture, it's a radio."
Upon finishing the "funnies," the homeless man walked over and turned the "radio off." As he was leaving, he said "this place won't be the same without our ghetto chile."
By this time, the instructor had reviewed all of the personal papers except the diary. The first twenty or so pages of the diary detailed how the deceased had been a working parent with a spouse who traded partying for the sanctity of marriage.
The deceased problems started when the adulterous spouse well known in Democrat Party, had retained a divorce attorney also a Democrat, to conduct a high profile bogus child abuse campaign against the deceased. The net result of this government assisted smear campaign was that the deceased losing his reputation, children, and job.
As the instructor was about to get lost in the diary, there was another knock at the door. This time the instructor was confronted by three homeless people asking if they might reclaim property they had loaned the deceased. Knowing that I had to get rid of the apartment's contents anyway; I said sure come on in and take what's yours.
Amazingly, no one started gathering up things until after they had finished reading the "funnies." I used this quiet time to continue reading the diary.
It seemed that the Democrat Party judge had set the deceased's child support payments at a rate based on deceased's salary before he lost his job because of the government's fraudulent child abuse investigation. The judge said that his Democrat Party court would not tolerate lazy child abusers.
The deceased was unable to find comparable work because employers are not inclined to hire suspected child abusers. This resulted in the deceased not being able to obtain employment and make the full court ordered payments.
A part time job and partial payments did not satisfy the Democrat Party judge who ordered the deceased to forfeit: their driver's license, vocational license, and all custody and visitation rights with his children. As this was not enough, the liberal lesbian judge also ordered the deceased to spend six months in county jail.
By now more homeless people were showing up to claim property previously "loaned" to the deceased. The "radio" along with all the small items were long gone by now. I found myself giving permission for the intruders to take the furniture and anything else they could carry off. My primary interest was in finishing the last few pages of the diary.
It turned out that the one week early court ordered release from jail for the deceased required medication based maintenance therapy from one of the judge's largest re-election financial contributors.
This led to the deceased being required to take more types of prescription drugs than street dealers ever dream of selling. The court ordered prescription drug abuse achieved the desired results, and eventually led to the deceased being classified as "disabled" by other bureaucrats.
The final words in deceased diary still haunt me: "They can destroy my career; they can take away my family; and they can even make me a drug addict; but Democrats can not take away my desire to help the less fortunate."
My reflections were interrupted by somebody asking about the rest of the drugs. I had completely forgotten about the icebox full of prescription drugs. As it turned out, none of the "dregs of society" had taken anybody's drugs but their own. The person asking me about the drugs wanted to know how long the place would be open so the rest of the people could come by and pick up their medications.
I informed the person asking the question that the electricity would be left on for the rest of the weekend. My response was followed by another question about taking up, the rest of the carpet for blankets since winter was only a few weeks away. Again my response was take what you need.
Within another couple of hours, the efficiency apartment had been stripped bare except for the icebox and the curtains.
An older homeless woman approached and said "it would be nice if you told everybody to leave the curtains as kind of a memorial.” After getting everyone's attention, I said that I had been given a suggestion that the curtains should be left as a memorial to a good person who made a difference.
One of the dirtiest of the homeless people said "thanks." To which I responded what for? The answer was simple, "for respecting what dignity we have left."
This Texas drifter's plans became closing out the deceased's utility accounts on Friday. Maybe that old man was right exploiting other people's misery for publicity is not charity?
