Relentless

Linda’s art making continues, despite having had most of her artworks trashed during a series of clean-ups by the city

Necessity dictated that Gracie would have to panhandle to eat, so out she went to the ramp, damn it all…
The winter storms of 2017 have been a blessing for California, a succession of cold and heavy rains finally breaking the grip of several years of drought-like conditions. We can relax a bit, knowing there will no longer be a need to closely monitor our lawn-watering quotients and other givens, at least for the time being. On the other hand, those unlucky enough to be living outdoors are that much more uncomfortable and disadvantaged. So we find the fraternity of 405/Nordhoff, right back where they were swept up from and jailed less than a month earlier, but now banned from at least taking refuge under the expansive, concrete freeway bridge. “Where else are we supposed to go?” Linda asks with exasperation. The group is holding it together through ingenuity, teamwork (yes), and the resolve to endure. To think of them by this time as anything less than a family is unfair.
Craig, Terry and Amy, lacking tents or even the materials to put up structures as sound as Linda and Gracie right now, spent the night under a narrow awning against the windows of the businesses that share the space with 7-11. The owner of the Thai restaurant was good enough not to be any more direct than was warranted when telling them it was time to open soon and they would have to remove their possessions– which included bikes and shopping carts– from the vicinity. So it was done with the help of Manny Flores of the local North Valley Caring Services, who arrived with red backpacks stuffed with tarps, food and plenty of warm winter wear.


Craig, always the most demonstrative, was profuse in his thanks for a new winter coat, a big improvement over the jacket which had left him, in Terry’s words, “shaking like a wet mouse… without teeth.” He said it with a smile and a cuff on the shoulder, everyone feeling a bit better banding together holding hot coffee. Craig gets good-natured ribbings like this from the others at times, like the brother who is not above being teased. Manny called a contact he had at the Mission Hills Police to see if the ban on sleeping under the bridge could be relaxed until the rains passed. He reported that yes, he had been told that officers would not press the matter. Everyone seemed skeptical, with Craig relating loudly that Officer Diaz had been emphatic that there were no ifs, ands or buts about it. Everyone seems to believe that it is just this particular bridge that is off-limits, though no one wants to relocate to the Plummer underpass a half-mile north, where there are no freeway ramps and anyway it’s a huge ordeal to move that far, especially in this weather.

The recent incarcerations weigh heavily on the group, and Linda, living almost snugly now after combatting leakages all night, was content to stay put. She and Gracie both have small candles burning in their tarp-roofed abodes. They were both indoors this morning as the latest torrents beat down; Linda contentedly back at work painting small objects with glittery nail polish, pleased with a news shade of green Gracie recently brought her. Gracie herself was more restive, managing to put on a welcoming, friendly face for me when I stuck my head in. Noticeably feeling the weather, she told me she had been in custody for an entire week, due to what she alluded might have been a harsher judgment than some others received … Meanwhile Mike, under the awning with the other guys, vented boldly that he would like nothing more than to take a swing at the officer who had locked him up.



A more thorough report would provide the reader with details of the health conditions of this group. Though much younger than either Linda or Gracie, Amy’s situation is the most dire at the moment. She had taken shelter inside Jack-in-the-Box this morning, suffering from the flu and now, according to Terry, determined to kick her habit. A lot of negative influence and peer pressure from others in their realm will continue to make that a difficult proposition, Terry knows.