Nomad

[aquafortis]

My life was very different once, before I started to move.

Of course, I've been moving since I was a fertilized egg. I moved into my mother's womb, and only stayed nine months.

That was one of the longer stays I've had in my lifetime. My childhood was the longest. Ten years in one place. Then my parents divorced. My mom moved out and took me with her, and we kept moving. A year here; a year there.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: a year. Provo, Utah: two months. Seaside, Oregon: six months, but we wished it could have been longer. Bodega Bay, California: three months, one week.

Technically now I've lived in the same city for five years. I started college here; dropped out after a year. I've worked at the same job, apartment building janitor, but after a year the management said they couldn't afford to house me in the basement cubby; said they needed the extra income from renting it out. They rented it to a real college student.

I moved. I moved into my van for six months. A couple times a week I'd crash on someone's couch; use their shower. Still do that. If I wanted to, I could probably pay a little rent to someone; move into a spare room when a roommate moves out. Whenever some kind soul offers, I refuse. I tell them I can't afford it. It isn't really true.

I got bored with the van after a while. I discovered an unlocked storage shed in the parking lot of a restaurant. It was a Tuff Shed, a tiny room half filled with wholesale boxes of garbage bags and cleaning supplies. I only showed up at night, and waited in my van until the final trip out to the shed by the busboy. It worked fine for a month, until they hired a night watchman. Then things were a little hairy for a few weeks. I had to park around the corner and wait until he walked around the other side of the building and then make a break for the shed.

Then, one morning I woke up and my van had a parking ticket. When I got back that night, there was a lock on the shed door. I'd been found out.

Next, I moved into the public library. I had to be crafty, because their employees did walkthroughs every night before closing. I'd hide out in the bathroom or the stacks, depending on who was doing the walkthrough. Some were more thorough than others. But once everything was closed up, I was home free.

And I took advantage of it. I read everything I'd never had the chance to read before. Kids' books, from Harry Potter to Beatrix Potter. Classics—Greek, Roman, Chinese, whatever. How-to books. It didn’t matter.

I was there for four months. One night I'd forgotten to charge my cell phone while driving my van back from work. Instead of my phone alarm going off at five a.m., well before the doors were unlocked and the first employees showed up, my phone automatically shut off sometime during the night. I slept through the doors opening. A librarian found me sleeping in the reference section, a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica Volume E lying open next to my head. I'd been reading about England, and thinking about moving there.

One minute I was dreaming my van had sprouted wings. The next minute I woke up with an elderly lady ready to kick the crap out of me.

***

Today's selection inspired by Another Dead Librarian by Flickr user Mr. Guybrarian. I'm afraid I wasn't feeling very creative. I liked the idea of somebody living in the library and falling asleep on the floor while reading, but couldn't really come up with much beyond that. Oh well...

[Elimare]

I like this, the idea of him constantly moving, especially that first line, only staying for nine months and then moving again.

very cool.

[TadMack]

You know, I think this story must be truer than you know. The Mitchell Library closes at five on Fridays and once we were there -- they told us ten minutes before it closed to leave. And then they told us again. And again. And flicked the lights. And then stood as we left -- and at every floor, there was a Watcher to be sure none of us doubled back and read during unauthorized hours. They're quite fierce and strict about it, which just makes me...

...want to spend the night there.

In a way, it would be a very cool thing for a homeless person to be able to do.