Darlene
Elmer the husky and I snoozed in the car at the Empire Boat Ramp in Coos Bay. Before closing my eyes, I watched a man on the pier toss his crab trap into the water and saw a battered colorless sedan packed with possessions that was clearly a domicile. On the bay, spindrifts rose up, raced southward for several yards, then died.
It was a cold and windy Saturday afternoon and we had an hour to burn before I toured a house for sale a half mile away. If I bought the place, I would soon move from one of the richest neighborhoods in Oregon, Portland’s Sellwood, to one of the poorest, Coos Bay’s Empire. I would be exchanging one liberal county and city’s failed progressive governing for whatever constituted failed governing in a locale that worshiped Trump. I would be giving up a French-themed wine bar that served a $14 glass of house red for a disheveled doughnut shop that also served hot dogs.
I relished this prospect like a Ritalin-free tyke relished Christmas morning. I wanted this crazy contrast and jarring juxtaposition. It would stir my creative mind like the witches in the opening scene of Macbeth stirring their bubbling cauldron. Earlier, driving every street of Empire, I had Nirvana’s
Incesticide cranked and could smell the noir.
No wonder Nirvana hailed from Aberdeen. That bleak coastal Washington town smelled exactly the same as Empire.
Why hadn’t Coos Bay produced a Nirvana of its own? Maybe it had decades earlier with Steve Prefontaine.
A double knock on my window rousted me. Elmer bolted up from the back seat and barked. I looked left and beheld a woman with long red hair whipping in the wind and wearing a red hoodie with some unfamiliar animated character emblazoned across the chest. She had stepped back from the window and waved at me. I cracked the door open and said hello. In no way did she seem addled. Her countenance displayed no evidence of hard drug use.
The gist of our conversation:
No, I didn’t have any ibuprofen.
No, I didn’t have any smokes.
Yes, I had a few bucks to spare.
She was homeless.
She owned no vehicle. She had no tent.
She was living near the boat ramp, sleeping in storefront doorways and alleys in Empire. She semi showered at the fish cleaning station but it smelled pretty bad.
It was dangerous being a homeless woman alone.
She’d lived outdoors in Coos Bay for several years.
She’s struck out with social services and churches in an attempt to obtain shelter or housing.
She didn’t know if there was any shelter or housing in Coos Bay.
She was told by someone in social services that she had a criminal charge pending against her. The woman claimed she knew nothing about this matter. I believed her.
She thought Elmer was a very handsome dog.
Her name was Darlene and she 53 years old.
I told Darlene I was thinking about buying a house in Empire. She wished me good luck. I said we might soon be neighbors. She smiled, thanked me for the cash, and walked away into the wind.