Thy Spirits have been Lifted

Ferret was in far better spirits today. You could almost say he was jovial. He had forgotten the racially charged drunken tirade of yesterday. We had a long talk about our respective homeless experiences over beer.

“How did a white boy from a middle class family become homeless?” He asked me.

“It’s a long story,” I replied not really wanting to go into the details of my failed and disastrous marriage.

“I was a drunk and still am,” I finally said tersely.

“You lived in the woods?” He then asked.

“For six months,” I replied. “I had plenty of camping gear.”

“Most mother fuckers don’t know what its like, you know?” He said.

“Yeah, I know,” I said as I took another drink from my beer and pondered over thoughts of my homeless days.

“I am probably going to be living in my car this summer,” I said. “I just can’t take all the shit my family throws at me. I sometimes think I was swapped at birth or something.”

“Yeah, my mother is a drunk bitch as well,” Ferret replied.

I picked up a rock and chucked it into the river. The resulting ripples quickly faded in the swirling water.

“Would you have thought you would be homeless at this point in your life?” I asked.

“Man, don’t get me started,” Ferret said “By now, I would be hooked up in a sweet and easy job with a wife and three kids on the way. Life’s somethin’ else, ain’t it? I sure wouldn’t be sitting out here in these woods drinking beer and sleeping in a goddamned tent.”

“You can look at it in a good way though,” I replied.

“What do you mean?” Ferret asked inquisitively.

“I look at most people’s lives and they are tedious and boring. They work everyday and are too tired to do anything else when they get home. Me and you have the freedom of time and most people don’t have that. We are far freer than the wage-slaves I see everyday. Try to look at it in a good way.” I replied.

“I ain’t never thought about it that way,” Ferret said as he laughed.

“Don’t say I said that though,” I replied with a smirk.

“Why?” He asked.

“Well, you start questioning the basics of everything we are taught to believe and adhere to and people get almost outraged,” I replied. “They can’t see that life could be different from what they are living. I look at my homeless days as a point of personal enlightenment. People feel threatened by that. You are expected to work dutifully, raise a family and other such bullshit.”

Ferret offered me a few more beers, but I had to pass on them. I have an appointment this afternoon and need to be sober for it. I told him I would head back down to the river this evening and the beer would be on me. I feel a good drunk coming on. These tend to tie in with my reflective moments and boy have I been reflective the past few days.