Earlier this week, I got a call from one of the former Tuesday regulars who has since gotten a job as a trucker. He keeps in touch with a few people he'd met while he was on the street. He told me that he was passing through St. Louis and then said:
"I heard you met the Rat Lady!"
I had no idea who he was referring to. Apparently there's a homeless woman who keeps a pet rat, and what makes her noteworthy is that she allegedly puts the rat in her mouth. I'm not sure I ever wanted to know that, as this week I figured out who "Rat Lady" was.
About a month ago, a woman showed up at the park for dinner. If I had to guess, I'd say she had a Mexican-Indian ethnic background. It was hard to understand what she was saying, and there was something in her affect that made me uncomfortable even talking with her. But hearing/knowing the rumors has made it made more difficult for me to control my feelings.
Maybe I'm making too much of this; my convictions are that love is not about the feelings we have, but the way we act towards others. I can't manufacture warm feelings toward this person, but I can respond to her as kindly as I respond to anyone else who comes for dinner - listening to what she has to say without letting her monopolize my time, making sure that she gets a full meal if she wants one, etc.
This morning I was running an errand in downtown Pasadena when I ran into the lady who has the big cardboard sign at the corner of Lake & Green. During my conversation with her I got a lesson into how sheltered my life has been, She pointed out a drug pusher across the street talking with a girl currently residing in a nearby halfway house. He was, among other things, trying to get her to be his supplier inside the halfway house, The dilemma was whether or not to notify the police, while he would get busted, the girl would also get into trouble as well. So we just watched as the girl tried to walk away a few times, then finally got on her bike and rode off. Then the pusher got on his bike and rode off in a different direction.
It was a little unnerving to know that this was going in the commercial/financial district of Pasadena.
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