Unto one of the least of these

The inhabitable part of my brick tent has a kitchen, two bedrooms with full size beds, and a living room with a desk, TV, DVD player (no cable) and a small twin size bed. The current occupancy is me, roommate #5 "M", age 42 and roommate #7 "O", age 39.  "M" has been here for almost a year and is now church going, has a bubbly fun personality, an incessant neat-nick, and down to once a month or less on the street.  "O" is a well known veteran third avenue north street walking prostitute, has a commanding soldier like personality, and has in recent weeks slowed down to being on the street only a couple of nights a week.

Then last Friday roommate #6 "A", age 23, called and asked to come back; I said no, I’m sorry, there's not enough room.  She asked to borrow $80 to get home; I replied "A, if it were possible I would gladly do it, but it's not right now".  "A" is one of the least of these.  She has no home, no id.  She doesn't remember her birth date and doesn't know how old she is.  She has had her mind somehow damaged during the years she has lived on the street and spends a lot of time in a non-cognitive awake state; during her first stay (three months), I found that one of her personalities is a college graduate, has a house and two cars (imaginary) and is interested in finding a job (not likely); another personality is a child - age 4 maybe, and the other state is the non-cognitive awake - kind of like what it would be like to wake up and not know anything about yourself, wondering where you are; a sense of fear because you obviously weren't born today but you can't remember anything previous to today.  A few days after being off the street, she starts hallucinating and is unable to tell what’s real and what’s imaginary.

I went to bed last Friday night (in the front room, on the small bed) and about 3:00 AM "A" knocks on the door.  I opened it - "A", are you OK? - No response.  She's non-cognitive and has a bewildered, lost look on her face.  She walked in and jumped under the covers; I slept the rest of the night on the reclining chair.  In the morning I made sure she had a good meal and she slept for the next couple of days.

Sleeping on the recliner isn't good sleep for me; I wake up with a pain in my neck and tired.  "M" looks at "A" with an attitude of disgust - asking me why I let her stay.  "O" is younger but wiser and cooks extra so everyone has enough to eat.  Monday I was ready for bed and "A" saw me headed for the recliner, rolled over to the far side of the twin bed and said "You can sleep here."  That touched me; an act of kindness from someone who has nothing.  (Note: I sleep fully clothed so no one will steal my keys or wallet - it's happened more than once.) It was a little bit of an improvement but the bed is so small that whenever one of us needed to shift positions, then the other had to shift in the opposite way.  So the next night I went back to the recliner.

It creates cognitive discord for "O" and "M" - this is my house, I pay all the bills, and although "M" cleans and "O" cooks; their contribution is nowhere near the bar of "free ride".  I was hoping that one of them would suggest that "A" and I would be able to sleep better on a bigger bed and offer to trade; note: I don't need anyone's permission to do this if I so choose.

So last night, I abandoned the recliner and slept on the floor; this morning I was shocked - "A" abandoned the bed and slept on the floor also, a few feet away. This is so interesting to me - it was an action of thankfulness from a person who is barely functional, while surrounded by others blessed beyond belief by comparison who hoard their supplies look down on the less fortunate.

It will be an interesting rest of the week - one of my personal rules is that I refuse to be more comfortable or less hungry (when there's not enough food) than any guest in my house.