Makng a Difference

Thanks to all who sent hope and good wishes for my friend in Austin. Last week a miracle occurred. He took a permanent room in a home-turned-boarding house. It is run by an Asian grandmother who also lives there. He shares a bathroom, and can store his dissolving trailer on the property. He's planning to sell it for scrap as soon as he can sell the contents. The home is not near crack and heroin dealers. The neighborhood is safe, though to get there by bus he must travel through some threatening areas.

Within a day of moving he checked out the busiest corner nearby for business. My friend's income supplement to social security depends on how much air he can blow through his flute, and how much the street traffic will yield. In some neighborhoods that's $20 and $30 per hour, he said. In this one it's around $10. He works the afternoon rush hours.

Although he talked about getting another dog, I discouraged him and he agreed he wasn't in a hurry to do that. After a month on the street with shingles, the disease almost has run its course. He's no longer in pain - severe or otherwise - yet still a bit debilitated and recovering.