Lost Appendage

Opal walked down Broadway hoping for a break in the persistent rain. These assholes driving by, splashing water and telling her poor people need to get a job. It was only a few weeks ago she may have uttered the same thing. That is if her damn worthless piece of unfit spit was with her. She was really glad to be rid of him. She secretly wished him dead, but hopefully she did not kill him.

Just yesterday, he was at the top of his angry game. She asked for a burrito from the busy food cart on the corner.

“Where do you think I am going to get that type of money? ” He yelled as she scurried across the street. A car soon after slowly passed between her and Vlad.

The street now unexpectedly silent, she yelled back to him.

“You held up a mini mart yesterday. That’s where you are going to get the money.”

“Damn If I told you once, I have told you a hundred times they don’t keep cash in that there damn safe of those mini marts.”

“Why did you hold up a damn Mini Mart?” She asked as he angrily paraded across Main as the rain increased in intensity.

“I got me self some cigarettes in the deal. You don’t need no damn burrito anyways. You getting yourself chunky”

“Who cares about my weight.? I can lose the weigh if I want. You are always going to be stupid.”

The next she knew she was looking out through a swollen left eye, while strangers looked at her like she had been knocked out. It looked like a scene from those boxing matches her Pop watched when she was little. That Tyson guy was smart like her old man, which neither of them were.

That was yesterday and it felt like a long time ago.

She could have go on home with that idiot. That choice was taken away from her once she found herself the victim of anger, stupidity and violence. Last night she slept at the shelter and to be quite honest it was one of the best nights sleep she’s had in a long time.

This morning she woke and much to her credit she enjoyed a hearty warm breakfast. It tasted damn good. The eggs were runny and the toast was on the dry side. Still it was the most delicious meal she had in a long time. She felt enough unsure of herself that she did not stay around and talk to those who lingered after breakfast. There was a gentleman there named Cabot and she rather enjoyed his company. He was a bear of a man yet he seemed gentle enough. They talked over a steaming cup of tea and then parted ways mid morning. She felt somewhat alive again. She was tired and beaten down until she woke up this morning. Today, She felt less tired and beaten down.

However that was only temporary, she has not yet have figured out life with out that fucking idiot she’s been hanging with. So she went back to the same routine she knew and that being hanging out on the dirty old streets. They did not feel as dirty today after she had been showered. It felt rather good and still she had a certain edginess.

She noticed todays light rain had a certain solidity to it as the temperatures hovered right around freezing. She walked around the downtown for an hour or so, occasionally saying hello to those she barely know. It was there that she came across the group of tents she lived in two nights previous. She enjoyed taking in the brutal morning, having spent the night outside the elements and she loved the smell of smoke in the air.

However this was a different smell as the smoke was acrid and burnt the eyes and nose. The smoke was tinted with creosote accented by either lighter fluid or gasoline. This was the shanty where she defiantly assumed Vlad slept. She walked quickly past the encampment hoping to avoid a confrontation. She felt happy, euphoric in a relative sense as she headed down town toward the waterfront. Why she headed to the waterfront was a paradox of sorts as she generally detested the new wine shops and swanky restaurants where a nice respite for those on street, once existed. She yearned to walk by the river. Watching the river soothed her.

Her walk by the waterfront was rather non eventful. She liked the fact that she blended in. The stigma of, the woman behind the beer can shopping cart, didn’t seem to follow her. She strolled through the waterfront without raising sneers of contempt. It was liberating, yet there was a certain melancholy attached that lingered in the back of her mind. The little money she had wouldn’t buy her much and she had a warm meal waiting back at the shelter if she so chose.

Opal marched back to the shelter as a steady snow emerged from the slowly sinking sky, She receded into a bit of melancholy that matched the lowering of the clouds. She resented vehemently, Vlad and the anger and abuse he directed toward her. Today felt like as she imagined somebody would feel on their first day out of prison.

She walked past the blue shanty that was Vlad’s and once again she could smell what she assumed to be gasoline. That idiot always had some gasoline in case he was lucky enough to steal a car. He must have fallen asleep, as by the smell of things, there was gasoline seeping out of his encampment. She bent down slowly to make sure this was gas and not a spilled bottle of the hooch.

She couldn’t be sure which it was. She took a match from her pocket so she could get a better perspective. She mindlessly tossed the match onto the liquid and hurried on her way.