Day 11: The Guy With a Sign on the Corner

My sister was the first person to throw me out.
Mom had died a couple of years before from
Breast Cancer and my dad, well my dad was
Never much use my grandma used to say
And he left us to go back east for work when
I just turned two. We never heard of him again.
My mom tried to find him once, but the trail
Went cold in Wyoming. We figured he might
Have died. There was a lot of oil riggers in
Rock Springs in the 70s and you know how
Riggers are. She got one check from there
And then nothing. Zip.  Nada. So yeah,
Who knows.

Mom had a lot of different jobs and a few
Different boyfriends, but my home town is
Pretty small and everybody knows everybody
Else, you know what I mean, and it was hard
For her to get by or get men or whatever you
Know how it is, right?  But we got by ok but
Not rich or nothing, but not so poor I was
Starving.  It was just not easy because every
Body looked down on us and they all thought
Dad ran of and left my mom and of course it
Was probably her fault, you know how little
Towns are.

So, anyway, my sister was the first person to
Throw me out, like I said.  Mom was dead and
I was fourteen and got into partying, you know
And my sister said "you cut that shit out or
get out of my house."  Yeah right, like it was
Her house.  Just as much my house as hers
But of course she was 19 and legally, legally
It was her house, I guess.  I don't know I
Should go back and find out, but fuck that
Shit.  I'm never going back to that piece of
Crap town.  Well maybe I might when my
Sister kicks the bucket, but fuck, you know
Fuck it.

So when my sister threw me out I just headed
North to Salt Lake.  I didn't know fucking any
One, but whatever.  It was a hell of a lot better
Than down there.  Hell of a lot better.  I met
A bunch of other kids, we used to hang out
At Crossroads.  Remember Crossroads?  Shit.
We used to hang out there and they'd play like
Classical music to drive us kids away. Hilarious.
Some kids used to sell drugs and score tricks,
But I never did that shit, never. Well I did drugs,
Yeah, but never sold, and I'm not a whore but
I just shoplifted and stole shit. Well there was
That one time, but nah, I don't want to talk
About that.

So yeah, I've been doing this for fucking near
Forty freaking years now. Not constant, mind you,
Sometimes I get jobs. Sometimes I make enough
To get a place with a couple of other people
Or we just go squat.  I like working jobs though,
But jobs don't always like me, if you know what
I mean.  I mean, I do ok out here. There are enough
Folks who will still drop change and I sometimes
Get a fiver. Hey listen, I got to get back over to
My buddy's place.  He needs me to do something
For him, you know what I mean, so see you
Around?