The Man Who Lived in my Car

I had a friend in trouble. He moved into my car. I wrote about it. The picture in the avatar is the bar behind my old home.

The Man Who Lived in my Car

 

 

 

His name was Santos

Short, peaceful, Mexican

He was my new neighbor

In the eight unit beach bungalows

That sat on the corner of 22^nd and pacific.

He lived across from me.

 

Happy

Smiling

More mouse than man

He told me Diablo

Lived in bar

Behind my Beach Bungalow

 

He was a good amigo

Had a fine brown van

And dated Apollonia’s mother

Life was muy bien

For my new friend

 

After a little while

Santos returned to the bar

Behind our home

To drink with Diablo

 

In a matter of months

He lost everything

His home

Van

And Apollonia’s mother

 

The bar life will

Drain a man.

Leaves him soulless

Leaves him homeless

Leaves him lifeless

 

He came to me one night

One Cold Harbor night

And asked me if he could

Sleep in

my

car

 

A four door

1989 Toyota corolla

I purchased from a Chinese student

Who attended Cal state long beach

Two doors worked

Two windows didn’t

The heat never did

 

I said yes

 

Before I left for work each morning

To baby sit the urban youth

I woke my sleepless, homeless friend

He lived in my car for six months

This was our routine

In a few weeks our routine would change

 

I later found plastic packets with a white dusty residue

I ignored them

I did not

I could not

 

 

My car became his temporary casa.

Driver side: bedroom

Passenger side: living room

Back seat: Kitchen, den, and foyer

 

During the morning when I woke him

He would jump out of the car

He would grab his green duffle bag

And hobble off

To the streets of San Pedro

 

My landlord was Roy

A self made Millionaire, who lived in Bixby Knolls but was from Allentown, PA

Roy owned a recycling plant

Roy owned a plane

 

Roy found out Santo was living

 In

My

 Car

 

He told me he had to go

He had caught him shitting in the alley

At that moment I thought Roy

Needed another hobby.

 

Roy said it was illegal to have

Homeless Mexican men

Who drank with Diablo

And dated Apollonia’s mother

In

My

Car

 

That night I saw Santos

He invited two other people

 Into

 My

 Car

 

His home

They were addicts

Drug abusers.

I told Santos his lease was up

He and the addicts disappeared

Into the alley

Behind the bar

Were the devil drank

 

A month later I told Roy I had to go

I packed the housecar and drove to Carson

 

A little while later

Roy’s plane hit a Mountain in Alaska

 

I guess God don’t like ugly

Even if he owned a plane.

 

 

Author's Note

please, comments, conversation, edits, love hates. I must say I love the comments some of you are very intelligent thinkers.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

Good ending for Roy. I like the story. I like the description of the life of Santos. A lot of good people can fall down. Good to have someone give a little kindness. I drank with the Devil a few times on the beach in Santa Cruz. Thank you for the excellent story.
Coyote

[TL Boehm]

Justice served.
I love the tone of this poem - the way it deals with the reality of homelessness and the widening gap between the haves and the have nots. Well penned honesty here.

[Stormy Weather]

I really liked how you set this story up. It was a pleasure to read.

[Scandalous]

Very intertaing, kind if funny!! I enjoyed reading this!!

~ Scandalous

[Livana Lowell]

Dear Judas Hammer,

I wonder what this is really about, honestly. It seems the idea changes as I read the poem. In my opinion, both Roy and Santos were wrong. Roy judged someone they did not know. Santos invited unwelcome company. I think it's rude to help someone out and they don't use that advantage to get better.

And I have to agree, this stanza could be a lot stronger: "The bar life/Drain a man/Leave him soulless/ Leave him homeless/ Leave him lifeless." The "lifeless" part might be the one throwing me off. I suspected that stanza would reflect all that the man was going through.

Thank you for sharing.

Sincerely Livana Lowell (LL)

[Abd-afeez]

So so wonderful and of course holding so much message in it. To me the morale of this message s diverse but to a positive thinker it tells you life is not always predictable. If he s everly sick he could turn up healthy some day and the everly healthy you could end up with a terminal disease. In short nur lives could be a picture of bad fate but everybody always have an equal opportunity for a change whether good or bad. Thank you!

[Abd-afeez]

So so wonderful and of course holding so much message in it. To me the morale of this message s diverse but to a positive thinker it tells you life is not always predictable. If he s everly sick he could turn up healthy some day and the everly healthy you could end up with a terminal disease. In short nur lives could be a picture of bad fate but everybody always have an equal opportunity for a change whether good or bad. Thank you!

[YouoweYoupay]

This was amazing. I was hooked right from the title till the last drop of ink. The story sounds, smells real. The last stanza slightly shook me. Karma. You write with a sense of truth and clarity. It makes me want to know more! Thank you for the excellent story. 100.

[HappyTaylor]

"I guess God don’t like ugly
Even if he owned a plane."

Favorite part! Good ending for a bad man. Karma is a mean one.
This was a really good story though! :)

[Daytonight]

I really enjoyed this. Love the ending. I like the character who was nice enough to let Santos move into his car also. Well done. Keep up the great work!

[paparapapa]

I loved how you narrated a story with a poem. It was easy to read and quite catchy at that. The flow's given since it's a story, but you spiced it up with a little style to the poem's format. So great job on that. I enjoyed reading it.