“Why are you living here?”
“Why else would I live here if I wasn’t homeless?”
“No, I know that of course, I meant how did you become homeless?”
“Oh, I got kicked out of my house, the bank foreclosed. I was laid off from my job so I couldn’t afford the payments anymore. I am looking for a new job right now.”
“What sort of job did you do?”
“I was working in the offices of an office supply company. They lay off a lot of workers, and I was one of them. It’s very hard to find a job in the current market though so I haven’t had any luck.”
“So did you have any family that you could stay with?”
“I wasn’t willing to move back in with my parents at this time of life, and my husband agreed.”
“So your husband is here as well.”
“That’s right; we sleep on park benches next to one another these days. We used to sleep in our car but we ended up selling it a couple of weeks ago and ended up here. My husband is still working but he doesn’t earn as much as I used to and we couldn’t afford the gas and couldn’t find a place to park it anymore. The police aren’t always very friendly about people sleeping in their cars in random parking lots.”
“What are you doing with the money your husband is earning?”
“Most of it we are saving so we will be able to afford an apartment soon. We don’t want to continue being homeless forever. After I find a new job we have talked about raising a family together. We both have always wanted children.”
“How did you hear about this place?”
“Oh, we saw it on the news a while ago; we never imagined we would end up living here. We’re used to a very different life style you see. One of my husband’s friends lets us use his shower so at least we keep ourselves clean, and we make sure that we wash the clothing that we have every week at the laundry, we do try to keep ourselves presentable. We make sure that we hold on to the luxuries we’ve always had, even before this tragic change of fortune. My husband and I still have our coffee every morning at the local coffee shop and we still go out on dates every Thursday. After all, if we can’t have our luxuries what would we have to live for? It’s what keeps us going. We’re thinking about getting a stove soon, just a small propane one, to cook on. That way we don’t have to eat that trash they serve at the soup kitchens. I am used to eating far better then what they serve.”
“When do you think you will be able to save up enough money soon?”
“Well like I said, my husband doesn’t earn a lot. We’ll try our best though. I don’t want to live like this for the rest of my life and neither does my husband. Do you know how embarrassed my family is that I am homeless? I can’t hold my head up around them anymore. I’m going to see that I can raise a family in a decent house.”
“Of course, I thank you very much for your time. You have been a great help, I will bring your money here in two days, could you tell everyone I interviewed that. If you don’t mind of course.”
“I don’t talk to them much, but I suppose I can pass along the message. The money will be nice, now we can go out to eat at a really nice restaurant again. I’ve missed being able to do that for the last several months.”
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