Ferret, where have you been?

I hadn’t seen Ferret in months. I finally got to see him today as he came sauntering down the sidewalk in front of the dollar store at the shopping center. I was sitting eating my favorite cheese-on-wheat crackers and drinking a chocolate milk just glad to be out of the house.

“Well, son of a bitch!” I said exuberantly as I looked up and saw him walking towards me. I thought I had seen a ghost.

“Hey brotha,” Ferret said as he clasped my hand in that handshake so popular with black men.

“How are things going and what have you been doing?” I asked enthusiastically, so glad to see him.

“I work all the time,” Ferret said. “I am working down at the auto parts store near Kroger.”

“You still on disability?”

“No, I dropped it when I started working full time,” He said. “It wasn’t enough to live on.”

I know how Ferret feels. Disability is a paltry amount to support yourself upon. I often dream of just getting a part time job to supplement my income. Luckily, I have no monthly bills other than utilities, groceries, and gas for my car. I haven’t had to pay rent in a long time. It makes life much easier on me although I have had to pay a small fortune in renovations for my new house.

For those of you new to Ferret, I and Ferret have long been friends. He has had a history of homelessness and alcoholism. He lived in a tent by the river for the longest time and I tried my best to help see about him. We grew to be fast friends due to our mutual experiences with homelessness and drinking. Ferret has also had a history of mental illness and is on medications these days to control the symptoms and the medications are working extremely well.

“Have you seen George?” Ferret then asked me. “He owes me forty dollars and that is why I am down here today hoping to catch up with him.”

I laughed. Good ole George, I thought.

“He owes me twenty dollars as well and I need it badly,” I replied. “And no, I haven’t seen him today. He usually doesn’t work on Sundays. Sundays is a hard day for him as they don’t sell beer as you well know.”

Ferret chuckled.

“Something’s never change,” He said.

I smiled and agreed. Some things never change especially when it concerns George. George is like a broken record most days repeating the same old segment of song ad nauseum.

I and Ferret talked for a short while longer. I found out he is still renting the room from George’s cousin Monte. It was so good to see him and we both gave each other a hearty hug when he was about to head on his way.

“Don’t be a stranger for so long next time,” I told him as he started to walk away. I had missed him deeply.

“I’ll call you,” He said. “We have much to get caught up on. Life has been busy.”

I smiled as I sat back down to finish my snack. Man, it was good to see Ferret, I thought.