"Adventures in Hitchiking"

On the 14th, I met K.  She is a 40 something African American woman who just returned from a marathon trip to California to check on her sick sister.

The sister just had stroke.  Lives with the boyfriend.  The boyfriend has run off and left her bedridden and unfed for 3 days.  The b/f is on the street selling her percocet.

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I also met 23 year old, S.  When i told her where i was going she "took me off guard" and asked:  "Do you live at the homeless shelter?"  i said no but i used to.

She stayed there for "not very long"  I asked What does that mean?  She said one month.  She said she can't verbalize how horrible it was.  i said, well i can.  I was robbed blind there.  Horrid.

She stayed for a few months in a tent with her baby, until she could get into shelter.  She work full time for a nationally known cleaning company.  Her partner was so abusive, that her boss let her live in the custodian office for a month.

She is still struggling, and when she dropped me off i could tell she desperately needed the conversation.  I told her we would get together for coffee.