Eddie the tramp

Eddie the tramp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eddie sat on the cold step of “The Spar”, with his collie, Bill. It was raining cats and dogs, felting off the ground, and bouncing up again like tennis balls. It was March in Aberdeen, Scotland, and a bitterly cold day again. Eddie was so cold, his fingers were almost numb, despite the fact he wore a pair of black woolly gloves he had found in a dustbin the day before. He thought it was like Christmas when he found them. His hands had been so cold, his palms had deep cracks in them, and his fingers were bleeding. The pain had been so awful, tears had rolled down his face. A passer by had walked by at the time, and laughed at him. How cruel can humans be, he had thought? It could be him one day, you never know. He had also found a scarf, which he had wrapped tightly around his filthy neck. It smelt of Tweed perfume, like his Granny used to wear, but, hey, you don’t have a choice when you’re desperately cold. It was amazing what people threw out, especially in the West end. His long and cosy wool coat was out of a skip, which he found on Boxing Day. The previous owner must have received a new one for Christmas. Eddie remembered the days he could also have done that. Not anymore though.

Eddie put his wet, and aching arms around his loyal dog, pulling Bill so close to him, the dog winced. Eddie felt so alone, however, Bill was his shadow, never, ever left him. Eddie loved this dog so much. Even Bill was shivering. Eddie pulled him in closer, wrapping his coat around the pair of them, trying to keep them both as warm as possible. It was getting late now. He was sitting on some newspapers that he’d found scattered around the park earlier. They were pages out The Sun, The Mail, and The News of the World. Eddie had a chuckle to himself when he picked them all up. He would never have even looked at these types of papers before, let alone sat on them. No Financial Times today, oh well. He wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening with the Dow Jones or the S & P today. Still they had the same affect, and kept the icy cold from penetrating his bottom too much. Try and keep the Piles at bay, hey? Needs must he thought.

He went up to the shelter most mornings and they very kindly provided a warm place to sit for a couple of hours, and even more importantly a meal. There was often mince and tatties, or a large bowl of broth with a chunck of bread awaiting them. They were such kind people there. Nice, decent people who never judged him, or his newly found friends. Sometimes, they even had a laugh, but only sometimes. There wasn’t anything to really laugh about. Eddie thought they laughed instead of crying. If they had cried they’d fill the river Don over and over again.

Today, however, he was heartbroken. His best friend, his new friend on these terrifying streets was found dead in the gardens below the bridge on Union Terrace. Poor soul, thought Eddie, another one gone. There won’t even be a funeral for Johnny, just a council worker who will have the unfortunate job of picking up his body, chucking it into his truck, and taking the corpse to the tip. This was life on the streets. When will it be me, he thought?

He closed his eyes, and his thoughts were taken back to only a year ago.

Forty four year old Eddie, was a very successful IT salesman. Oh, life was good, real good. His wife, Hazel, was is first love, his only love. They had met at school when they were only fifteen. Oh, Hazel was truly one in a million. She bore him two sons and a daughter, was a devoted wife and a wonderful, loving mother. They lived in the suburbs, in a beautiful four bedroom detached house. Eddie had surprised Hazel one day, and came home beaming and announced to her, he had bought them their dream house. Hazel had thrown her arms him, told him how much she loved him, and thanked him so much. Later that night, they made love, oh so tenderly, as their love for each other was immense.

They had such a great life. Eddie provided well for his family. They had two cars. His, was a BMW 320i, top of the range. All singing and dancing, this was his pride and joy. He had bought Hazel a Mercedes Benz A class two years ago for her birthday. That had earned him a few brownie points! The children wanted for nothing, spoiled really. How he adored them all. James, their eldest, will be eighteen this year. He wanted to be a vet. James was a clever boy, Eddie was very proud of him. Chelsea, now sixteen, well, she was a stunner, model material. Their youngest, Jordan, was a cheeky thirteen year old. He was a charmer, just like his Dad. They always had two holidays a year, and they were special times, when the whole family were together, away from their busy lives. Exotic destinations, like Mexico, Barbados and Bali to name but a few. Eddie always won at least one holiday a year, as he was constantly top salesman. He was good, real good at his job. He could charm the birds out of their trees, his boss would tell him. He made a six figure salary, and boy, how he loved it!

How did he get into this mess? Well…He was having an affair with a Jessie, a woman he met on his travels around the country. She made him feel good, she was very accommodating to his fetish ways. Hazel wasn’t into this at all, she thought it was perverse. Bondage was his favourite. Being tied up to the bed posts was such a turn on. He couldn’t do this at home, not with his beloved Hazel. He met Jessie one night when he was staying in Edinburgh, 2 years ago. They had met over a drink at the hotel bar, when Eddie, being Eddie, had charmed his way into her knickers. This was his first and only affair. Wow, it was wild! Eddie had to spend a lot of time in Edinburgh, as this was where the Head Office was. He starting seeing Jessie once a week, then his urges became so intense, he had to see almost daily. He started lying to his wife. I have a meeting, a conference, an exhibition. Any excuse he could think of. Hazel had no idea. Poor Hazel. Then one day when Hazel was taking his suit to the laundrette for dry cleaning, she emptied his trouser pockets, as she always did. He wasn’t very domesticated, not Eddie, and Hazel loved to look after him anyway. She pulled out a piece of paper. It was folded up so neatly, just like Eddie would do. Everything had to be so clean, tidy and organised. He was pretty fanatical when it came to his clothes. Hazel opened up the paper, and began to read the words that would change both their lives forever. “Eddie, please leave your wife. I love you, and I know you love me too, my darling. Please meet me tonight at 6 p.m at our special place. Oh, and Eddie don’t forget the handcuffs! I’ll be waiting..” Hazel fell onto the bed in disbelief. “What?” she thought. When Eddie didn’t come home that night again she knew this was no joke, this was really happening. Her world was shattered. She confronted him the following night when he came home. He admitted everything, thinking she would forgive him. Hazel would never forgive him, ever! Her perfect life had now ended. She threw him out with the clothes he stood up in, and told him never return.

Eddie knew he had screwed up his life good and proper. So he left, as instructed. Hazel cancelled the credit cards, withdrew all their savings from the bank, and even changed the locks before Eddie had reached his destination. He drove his car down to Edinburgh, and went to see Jessie. She took him in, and he thought life was good. He missed his family, especially Hazel, but his mind was taken away from all that when he had sex with Jessie. After about two weeks, Jessie told him she didn’t love him. It was all a game to her you see. Now she had Eddie, the game was over. He had nowhere to go. He had been skipping work. He called in sick so many times, just so that he could have sex with Jessie. He lost his job the day before. His boss said even though he was the best salesman they ever had, he couldn’t carry him anymore. This behaviour had been going on for far too long, and Eddie was fired. Eddie walked out of Jessie’s house onto the streets and headed for the nearest bar, where he proceeded to get so drunk, and ended up sleeping on a park bench with only a few pounds in his pocket.

“There you go old man. Have a beer on me”, came a voice from above. A tall chap, stooped over Eddie and threw a £5 note into his hat, which was sopping wet on the ground. “Thank you very much mate” said Eddie, as he looked up at the stranger. £5, he thought, that’ll buy a lot. I can get Bill and myself some food today. There are kind people in this world, he thought.

Eddie was wearing the clothes he wore when he was thrown out of his home a year ago. His favourite clothes, all Armani. A white double cuffed shirt, a pair of navy pin striped trousers. His shoes, Gucci, black lace ups. Even his socks were Gucci to match his shoes. Down to his boxer shorts. They were pristine a year ago. He had always been immaculate. Not now though. His shirt was ripped, so dirty, hard to imagine this was once a white shirt. It was greyish, with stains all over it. His cuffs were worn with holes. The collar was black now, all torn. The trousers were stained beyond recognition now. The bottoms were so frayed. He stank real bad. His hair was dishevelled and matted, which in the last few months had turned grey, along with this long a straggly beard. If his family saw him now, they wouldn’t even recognise him. He looked years older than he was. To be called old man by a passer by hit him bad, like a slap in the face. Boy, I must look really old, he thought.

Oh, to have a sleep in a nice, warm, comfortable bed, with fresh linen, smelling so fresh and clean. To have a shower with his favourite shower gel, and feel the heat of the powerful shower water, washing all this dirt away. How nice that would feel, he thought. To wash his matted hair with shampoo, and brush it afterwards, that would be bliss. To shave off this beard and feel his once soft skin underneath, that would make Eddie feel so clean, so normal.

Eddie picked up his can of Special Brew and took a large sip. It didn’t really taste that good, but it had the desired affect and got him drunk pretty quickly. Heck, you needed something to try and take you away from reality on the streets. It was terrifying. He had been beaten up a good few times by drunken youths when they came out of nightclubs and pubs late at night. They had kicked him in the guts so hard he threw up, and they had done it just for a laugh. Eddie couldn’t go to the doctors like they could though, he had to suffer.

He had tried to get a job in the early days, but with no fixed abode or telephone number, nobody would help him. It was a catch twenty two. He couldn’t get a job without a home, and couldn’t afford a home without a job. Life can be so cruel.

Eddie sat watching passers by as the Special Brew took affect, and wondered how he could change his life, and go back to being what he called normal.

Author's Note

Life can change so quickly...

Reviews

[Mark Brown]

I think the writing is top notch...have any more of them special brews?

[TheSweet]

An upsetting and very true to life story. It's a horrible way to live, even if it is self inflicted. And enjoyable read that kept me going the whole way through without any loss of concentration.

My only suggestions is maybe it's a bit straight forward. It's a story that's explaining the whole way through - rather than suggest anything, you just say it how it is. On this basis, it also lacks the ability to make you think too much, as a reader I wasn't left with any questions or doubts about anything and it didn't make me think much differently towards the homeless than I already did.

Now it does work as it is - I just think a sotry like this has the potential to do the above things, if you understand what I mean. Because there are a lot of homeless people that enjoy being homeless - so like you mentioned his friend who died, you could also put across the idea of maybe some others who helped him when he first went on the streets who don't make it feel as bad - maybe putting across the idea that he could get used to it in time... leave it with some thought.

You might completely disagree with me on this point, but that's what i would suggest - because the story is great and it is well written as it is - so content wise and using suggestion are the only possible changes :) Thanks for sharing!

[PyroKitty24]

Very well written. I was interested the whole time, especially during his flash back. It's terrible how one stupid thing can change your life forever, but don't we all know it? Unfortunately, some more than others.

[JanieB]

Sometimes life can change almost overnight..we never know!
Friends and family are not always there, sometimes they too have issues. Anybody could be out on the street in a year...

[Nothing Personal]

This is a well written tale and it has a strong moral. It's description was top notch and the flow and the read was very lucid and engaging. However I didn't find the transformation from Eddie the IT man to Eddie the tramp that believable. He had his bank accounts, he had his house and nobody could deny him that. Also one year he would not have been out in the streets..He would have sought help from friends, former office mates whatever..or even from his family..Anyways, a good story nevertheless. I liked it :-)

[Princess3Morag]

Like how you show how something like this happens..nobody ever thinks about that (generally speaking) they just see dirty, drunk people..

[Marie Harrison]

Such a compelling story. To think he had it all at once. Seemed like such a likable guy too! Loved this story. Thumbs up to me!

[E.H. Monroe]

This story had so many layers I had to make sure I was reading the same one.
The irony of him sitting on the sun and the news of the world was awesome.
And not just a simple story about a tramp, but a fetish driven tramp with a tongue for the rope, fine wine and women.

Well done

[KAREN]

This was so good, I couldn't stop reading! Very sad story, and many people go through was Eddie is going through!

[Liza]

wow; Eddie gambled with all of his life...his love and his foundation....showing one what it means to find passion for stability and response ability