Author’s note: This is from a series based on my journal. Unconventional and idiosyncratic punctuation and formatting are intentional.
This morning I woke up an hour before my alarm. I was not able to go back to sleep. There is no reason why. One of the regular Spelling Bee players had the same experience. She posted her set of hints just before three this morning. I just happened to 🐝 up, she said at the beginning of her list. I did not use her hints. They are always too clever for me. Instead I used those posted by a player named Steve G. Every morning Steve G. posts two sets, one playful and one succinct. I always refer to the latter because his playful hints are usually as clever and cryptic as those of the other player. Soon after I finished playing the light came on by the back gate and the possum waddled through it on its way to the box bush by the patio. SCENE was the answer for Wordle today.
At the shelter when I arrived for my mail room shift Rick was standing at the desk and wearing his coat but not yet waiting at the door. I felt as if my effort to get there a few minutes early finally paid off. Have a good week, he said. Thank you, I said, you too. The first man to come by had no I. D. He carried a shearling blanket over his left arm and wore a puffy bright green vest under a canvas coat stained with soot. A blue bandana circled his neck. He kept up a patter with himself as he checked his pockets and wallet for anything with his name on it, turning out scrap after scrap of paper, creased, crumpled, and torn. I suggested he go to the front desk for a verification slip. May I help you? I asked the man behind him. While I checked that man’s mail the first man stayed at the door tucking his papers back into his pockets and wallet. I’m going to go get proof of me now, he said when he finally finished. I had already checked the mail for two other men by then. When Susan came by to check mail for a man who’s been barred I asked her if she watched the Super Bowl. It was on the TV, she said, let’s put it that way. Same, I said. I sorted the day’s mail when it arrived or at least some of it. There seemed to be thousands of flyers from the state concerning identity theft. Of those I managed to sort just a few dozen. That’s okay! Sandy said when she arrived for her shift. I’ll be here the rest of the day!
On my way home at the grocery I checked out with Yulanda. With just two customers in front of me and Yulanda so intensely efficient I thought things would be speedy but no. The system kept glitching. After it would not let Yulanda back out of the first customer’s transaction for some kind of redo the woman behind her added the woman’s clementines and ice cream to her shredded cheese and soup. Thank you for doing that for her, Yulanda said. It’s no problem, the second customer said. Yulanda looked down through her readers at the tip of her nose and punched into her register the code for the clementines. Michael worked in the lane behind me. He’s dyed his beard purple. It’s so full and vivid it looks as if it could be filler for an Easter basket. Why is the artichoke so romantic? asked the video display above the candy rack. Five seconds ticked from a stopwatch on the screen. Because it has a big heart!
At the library next door I picked up Patrick DeWitt’s novel Ablutions about a bartender becoming as debased as the regulars he serves. Dark and provocative, says a blurb on the front. Sharp and bitter and funny, says one on the back. Its second page says it is dedicated to DeWitt’s father. The No Trespassing/No Soliciting sign above the book drop has been smudged and amended with black marker to say Mo’ Passing/No Citing. At home snow melt streamed down the alley, trickling and gurgling past the garage. I felt as if I were next to a creek. Soon after I came inside Polly came down to go to work wearing her winter coat. As soon as she stepped outside onto the deck she stepped right back in and tossed her coat onto the floor. Yes! she said.
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Polly, I thought of your work at the men's day shelter this morning as I read the local paper online. A new survey shows a 43% increase in the number of unsheltered individuals in Franklin County, Ohio, since 2025. This represents an alarming increase and is not at all surprising. Our middle class is being tested by inflation and, consequently, seeking more food assistance and dropping health insurance at equally alarming rates. We spend more time counseling new visitors to the food pantry who have children and income. They are slipping, and I fear more homelessness is ahead.