A Little Drive: Chapter 1

This is chapter one of a story I wrote when I was in my 20's over 30 years ago.

A LITTLE DRIVE

Chapter One: The Bum

The small sweeping truck drove down the dark, littered street on it's way to another empty parking lot. The lights of the city illuminated just enough of the area to make the grime of the run down neighborhood take on an oddly charming look. The cool fall wind blew bits of paper around the buildings and cars as the truck pulled into the shopping mall that was it's destination.

Charles looked at his watch - 3:15 a.m., and there were still six more stops to make. Charles knew that the first one would be done quickly enough; but, the third would take at least an hour and a half, and he was worried that he might not finish until seven o'clock. He didn't like to still be sweeping when the sun came up because then he would have to deal with the morning and he always found that difficult. People who work from nine-to-five seem to look down on those who work at nigh and they also seem to feel the pressures of existence a little more acutely. Even if it were not for the people, he would still be concerned because the shop owners would not like it if their lots weren't finished before the first customers arrived.

He drove around the mall lot pushing some of the refuse into the gutters and slurping up some of the rest into the truck's giant vacuums. When he had finished driving around the lot he got out and put on his backpack blower. With he blower on he looked like some kind of alien creature taking samples of the earth. After a year or so on the job he no longer even noticed the smell of burning gas from the backpack. Charles had actually begun to enjoy blowing the sidewalks clean more than driving the truck because the act of blowing the sidewalks would take on an almost hypnotic effect and it meant that this particular lot was almost done.

As Charles walked down the sidewalk around the large store blowing the papers and cans out of the bushes, he thought about where the best place to take his break would be. If he went to Joey's Doughnut Shop he knew that he would run into one of the other sweeper named Richard. Richard had spent a couple of years in jail for holding up a fast food restaurant in Stockton when he was 23. When he got out of jail Richard found it was almost impossible to get most jobs so he started looking for jobs that nobody else seemed to want and he eventually ended up as a sweeper. Rich was alright but he sometimes would go on for hours about some of the strange ideas he had about the universe or talk about how someone had invested a pill that would cure all disease; but, that the government would let them sell it because it would hurt how much big pharma and the doctors make off of disease. Charles didn't feel up to listening to Richard so he decided to just finish quickly and go home to sleep.

Charles was almost halfway through the mall when he got to where the benches were. On one of the benches was a large collection of newspapers and he blew them away he was surprised to find a bum beneath where they had been. Charles started to tell the bun that he was sorry but he saw that the bum would not have heard him. "Shit" he said, "looks like I'm really going to be late tonight". He left to call the police.

Charles had seen dead homeless before as has everyone else that lives or works downtown of any major city for long enough; yet, he felt strange about this one and he wasn't sure why. In the past Charles had never really thought about them, he had seen it but never really had to deal with it. Somehow this dead bum had made Charles think about him, perhaps Charles was the only to think about the dead man, perhaps the only one to spend more than four seconds thinking about him in as many years. He began to think about the bum lying on the bench in his own vomit with his excrement running down his pants and onto the dirty bench and Charles knew that nobody would even notice that the bum had ever lived once he was taken away in one of the Coroners green bags. Charles wondered if he had been one of the many who had him for a cup coffee or some spare change, sometimes Charles had given money to the bums when asked; but, usually he did not. He wondered whether he had bothered to give this bum money for coffee or if he told him no, or if he just ignored him.

Charles remembered one bum he had seen everyday for six months. He would see the bum walking up and down the same streets everyday writing in some little book. Then one day he saw the police pick up the bum's body and take it away. He wanted to know, he wanted to ask the cops to give him the bum's notebook. He wondered if it held a great novel or just meaningless scribbles and he knew that the chances are that nobody would ever know or care about the answer to that question.

"Sacrament police", the voice said.

"I want to report a dead body", said Charles.

"What's your name sir"? inquired in a monotone voice.

"Charles Leed", he replied.

"What is your address?" the voice went on.

"19962 Levon Avenue, apartment number 22," Charles responded.

"Who is dead?", the voice asked.

"I don't know" Charles replied. "Just some old bum at the Stuart Street Mall and he's on the benches near the rear entrance. I was blowing the benches when I found him.

"There will be a car there in a few minutes", the voice continued, "please wait for it".

"Hey, I've got other lots to do", said Charles, "I have to finish my shift".

"Please waith there sir" said the voice one last time.

"Alright, alright", said Charles and then he hung up the phone.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5, Part 1
Chapter 5, Part 2
Chapter 6
_____________________________________________________

So that was chapter one. It is for my readers to tell me if it has aged well. In reading it after over two decades, I can see that my writing has improved. I won't tell you where the story is going and don't have the final copy; but, I will probably post another chapter in a day or two. Hope you are intrigued.