Merry Christmas From the Food Pantry Line
Posted: Monday, December 21, 2009
by Gregory Lewis
PopGnosis
Merry Christmas,
I just spent an hour and a half in the food pantry line. I heard many tales and stories by many people. The Cuban gentlemen are so loud, they have to step back 20 paces to speak to each other in Spanish. They are not angry, they are happy. The woman behind me wishes her old man could put his truck on the road. He can't drive it, after all, because he's had three DUIs in 10 years, and his license is permanently revoked. Hers is revoked, too, but she's only had one DUI. She claims the DMV will return her license soon.
"Oh? And how close do sharks come to shore?" I ask. She grins for the longest time.
"Knee deep," she says. I look down, and see she has only one foot. The other is literally a metal peg with a rubber tip, like crutches have. I want to ask what her name is, but I'm afraid of the answer.
The Keys are not very kind to women. Many of them in their forties and fifties have skin like finely tooled leather. It's the salt. Everybody kind of looks the part, and I suppose I did, too. Either overweight, too underweight, smoking cigarettes, talking about booze, raspy, Donald Duck voice from too much smoking and drinking, acne scars. Some with kids, playing with logs and rocks in the parking lot while Mom is waiting for her bags of food.
A woman behind me was becoming irritable for the long wait. She's pregnant, she said, so forgive her. She was talking about brand name shoes, and how she would only buy brand name shoes. I was telling the other man she was talking to where he could buy $20 sandals. This is the subtropics, after all. I show him mine, which are blown out on one side. They all laugh, and I laugh with them. These are people comfortable in their predicament.
Another very gregarious woman, who I will call Rachel, told me that this morning she slipped on the deck of her houseboat, and punched a hole in the wall with her elbow. She wants to know if I can carry some plywood sheets in my van.
"They call me the Coke Lady," says Rachel.
"Why the Coke Lady?" I ask. Rachel shows me a Coca Cola tattoo on her arms. Then one on her shoulder. Then one on her flank. And then she bares her behind, right there in the pantry line, and shows me yet another Coca Cola tattoo. I think she had five, all very professionally done. "Coca Cola should pay you for advertizing," I say.
It was an unusually cold day, this first day of winter. The thermometer actually hit 61F. Most were in sweat pants and jackets or sweaters. I, the stoic, and a dreadlocked Rastafarian were the only ones in t-shirts and shorts. The Rasta, who goes by the name Fish, asked me to keep an eye out for a dinghy. His dinghy sunk two days ago in a rain storm. He lives on a boat, and hasn't been able to get to his boat in two days. Fish asked me to keep my eye out because another time I gave him a bundle of fishing poles, which I had picked up at a yard sale for free. "That's how I make it," he said, "I rent out fishing poles. He's usually seen riding around town on a three-wheeled bicycle.
Not a fight among them. These are my people. Some day I may be working with them from the other side of the counter, but today I am one of them.
Feliz navidad,
Gregory
This Article has been viewed 1,996 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)As a child of the projects and poverty and at many times, "one of them," I thank you G.
God's blessings on you this Christmas season.
P.S. I am proud to Warp you.Please log in to respond to this comment.Wow, thank you Edward. That is very kind.Merry Christmas, my friend, - GPlease log in to respond to this comment.
Nice. You have a great talent for seeing life clearly, the realities instead of just the concepts. .
Best ...............ePlease log in to respond to this comment.Thanks for your encouragement, e. I simply let the subjects speak for themselves. You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my picture show.Please log in to respond to this comment.
A laser's illumination of a hellish and hungry line of American survivors, a loving and compassionate portrait of a cross section of life's battered but non despairing.Again and again your articles are floodlights on flatcars that pierce the darkness .PaulPlease log in to respond to this comment.That's a wonderful testimonial Paul, thank you very much. I write about what I know.Please log in to respond to this comment.
a qucik peek at the 'underbelly of our society' We know it exists, but prefer to keep the whale off it's back- swimming right- side up; otherwise there's something wrong with the picture, something that frightens us.- Thought provoking article.Please log in to respond to this comment.Ella, your comments are nuanced and critical. Few appreciate that, but I do.Merry Christmas, - GPlease log in to respond to this comment.
Hello GregoryGreat read, you have a way of taking the reader into the moment with you.BlessingsPlease log in to respond to this comment.
Bless you, Gregory! I love how real you are - how truly you speak, how beautifully you share life wherever you are, how much humanity you make beautiful and touching and raw. Everyone has a story and you tell yours very well! Thank you!Please log in to respond to this comment.Thank you Liesl. Life provides. Feliz Navidad.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Gregory I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. Thank God Rachel the Coca cola lady didn't have six tattoos because the two of you might have been locked now
Keep well
KacyPlease log in to respond to this comment.Yes Kacy, I still think of those Coca Cola tattoos. And as for the one legged woman, I found out her name was not Peg.Please log in to respond to this comment.
I love reading this story. Are you going to be able to do something like this, this year in your new locale?Please log in to respond to this comment.Hi Bruce, I do volunteer work for a Pentacostal run food bank (if my readers can believe that, but it's true) here in Fort Lauderdale. As it happens, I just checked my next volunteer date, so the odds are pretty good I will have some new stories for this year. The most interesting people you will ever meet are right in front of you. Or right behind you, or off to the sides a little.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Feliz navidad, Feliz navidad.......
Greg, you are so humorous this time. One day out and that gave you an entire story to tell. So you guys having a cold season now ?
Hilarious and made me smile.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks Hilda. Every day out gives me a new story to tell. I am out now. What stories may come?Please log in to respond to this comment.
I remember reading this a year ago and thinking this Gregory Lewis (whose articles and comments on others I found a little intimidating at times) sounded like a good guy, unpretentious and thoughtful of the people around him. Now here we are many stories, and many comments later, I read this and know you are a good guy, who keeps it real. I like that.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thanks Brianna. Sorry about the intimidation factor, but I is what I is. Let no thought go unbeaten to death.Please log in to respond to this comment.
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