I woke up about an hour to late. At the time I was a maintenance manager at a large church and school. One of my responsibilities was to open the building in the morning, make sure the boilers were working or the A/C, unlock the doors, turn on the lights and just get prepared for the day. But I woke up and looked out the car's side window and noticed a couple of the teacher's cars and looked out at the playground and kids were already waiting for the first bell to ring, telling them they could come in.
It wasn't unusual for the teachers or even the students to see my car parked there when they arrived. But until that morning I was already inside and the building was set to go. I sat up and felt so dirty. The car stunk of stall beer and I was still in the same clothes that I wore to court the day before. I hopped out of the car and the church doors were still locked.
I unlocked them and made my way through the halls and into the school, some lights were on and some doors were open. Luckily all the teachers also had keys to get in so in wasn't a total nightmare. I didn't really see anybody in my race to finish getting all the doors unlocked.
After everything was ready to go, I made my way to a boiler room and went inside. Not to do any work, but rather just to get my bearings. I looked at my clothes and though they were somewhat wrinkled they didn't appear to dirty. I put my hands on my forehead to pull my hair back and I was soaked in sweat.
I gained enough composure to sneak out of the boiler room and made it into the restroom. I tried to wash up as best I could and get ready for a day of work. The morning was long. For the last half year I always had a couple of beers just to get going for work.
That day, I had none. I was sweaty, shaky, and feeling physically ill. I made it a little past noon and told some people that I was going home because I must have the flu. They didn't know I didn't have a home, nor did they know that my illness was self-inflicted.
My first stop was a liquor store and within an hour I was feeling so much better. But now, I needed to come up with some kind of plan to be better prepared for tomorrow. My plan involved the school's day care center.
This center was located on the college campus across the street from where I worked. It was in the basement of a dormitory. And I had keys to it. The dorm was closed that year for remodeling. And it would become my home. After the day care center closed at 6 PM, I made my way into the building.
I found a room with a mattress and down the hall was a restroom and showers. It wasn't the best situation but it would be better then last night. I would have to be out of there before 5 AM when the day care center opened and I needed to remain in the dark while there. I really didn't want to have a run-in with campus security.
That night I laid on the mattress, a street light was the only light I had. I drank my beer starring out the window, knowing no matter what I had to be out of that building before 5 AM. I left the dorm after dark and went to a discount store and got an alarm clock, get a burger, and yes some more beer.
I went back to my new home and passed out about 11 PM.
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"A busy mind is a sick mind. A slow mind, is a healthy mind. A still mind, is a divine mind." - Native American Centerness