August 11th, 2012
Walked to Plasma early yesterday morning, thought about Eve quite a bit. Somewhere in the 6 mile trek my right leg began to ache, which is unusual since I've been averaging 15 miles a day for most of the summer. I've been pushing myself pretty hard lately. My plasma donation went fast, afterward I stopped at a Chinese Buffet and stuffed myself. Ran into 'SC' at Target, told him about my situation with Eve, well her situation really. Walked back to Downtown and headed to Eve's apartment, no one was home so I sat on the bench out front and waited. I spoke to her landlord, thought maybe she'd know which hospital Eve was in, she didn't. The sky was dark all afternoon, I had to hide in the underpass by the highschool to avoid the ran on my way back from plasma. While I was waiting I ran into a dude I'd met at an AA meeting a while ago. We chatted a little, basically this, that, and the other as well as how much early recovery sucks.I was sitting on the bench in front of Eve's apartment when another leg of the all day storm rolled in. Had to retreat to the Farmer's Market in the nearby park, ducking under the clock gazebo to avoid a good soaking. Some children were playing nearby, looked like a mixture of tag and hide and seek. When the rain intensified they scurried off, probably to find their parents. A bus pulled up to the curb less than 20 feet from my position and a solitary lady ran out with her backpack held over her head, veering in my direction. By now the storm had re-intensified to a torrential downpour. The blue and pink backpack she was wielding was covered in peace peace symbols and looked soaked through.
"Are you a hippy?" I asked, "Or just really into nuclear disarmament?"
" I'm kind of a hippy I guess." The lady smirked.
We soon fell into a short, strangely inquisitive conversation. The kind of conversation that only strangers brought together by inclement weather seem to know how to have.
"Are you from here?" I asked.
"Oh no, Grand Forks North Dakota" She replied.
I've been quite a few people from North Dakota lately, there is a couple from the shelter that moved here from there to find work recently.
"You must be excited to be in the big city then." I commented with mild sarcasm.
She shrugged, I think it went over her head that I was being sarcastic. Water began to torrent over the concrete slab we were standing on, I pointed to the nearby overhang attached to the public restrooms and we made for it. Two minutes later the rain stopped entirely and I made my way to the walk bridge over the river. Two couples were standing before the bridge looking down at the water while one of the girls smoked a cigarette and did her best to feign interest in what the others were talking about.
" See right there?" One of the guy said pointing to a spot under the bridge. " When the river is low there is a bunch of big rocks right there, last year I waded out with my guitar so my friend could take a picture."
"Cool..." Said the girl, clearly disinterested.
" You took your guitar out there?" Said the other girl.
" Yeah." replied the guy turning the more interested girl.
"Why?" asked the girl.
" To make it artsy." Said the guy.
I crossed the bridge and made my way from there up to the closest hospital in the area. This is the hospital I went to for my alcohol poisoning in December, hadn't been back since.. thankfully. I meandered in and stood by the receptionists desk near the ER doors. I just stood there for while not saying anything. I like to wait for people to notice me.
"Hi..." said the receptionist after a while. "Can I help you with something?"
" I think a friend of mine came in here last night..." I gave her Eve's full name.
The receptionist clacked the keys on her computer and then wrote a number down on a yellow post it note.
"She's in the other building, so you're gonna go down this long hallway with all the art on the walls, take a left, then veer right to an elevator bank and take it to the third floor."
"Thanks."
I felt a tightness in my chest as I made my way to the elevators.
Walked to Plasma early yesterday morning, thought about Eve quite a bit. Somewhere in the 6 mile trek my right leg began to ache, which is unusual since I've been averaging 15 miles a day for most of the summer. I've been pushing myself pretty hard lately. My plasma donation went fast, afterward I stopped at a Chinese Buffet and stuffed myself. Ran into 'SC' at Target, told him about my situation with Eve, well her situation really. Walked back to Downtown and headed to Eve's apartment, no one was home so I sat on the bench out front and waited. I spoke to her landlord, thought maybe she'd know which hospital Eve was in, she didn't. The sky was dark all afternoon, I had to hide in the underpass by the highschool to avoid the ran on my way back from plasma. While I was waiting I ran into a dude I'd met at an AA meeting a while ago. We chatted a little, basically this, that, and the other as well as how much early recovery sucks.I was sitting on the bench in front of Eve's apartment when another leg of the all day storm rolled in. Had to retreat to the Farmer's Market in the nearby park, ducking under the clock gazebo to avoid a good soaking. Some children were playing nearby, looked like a mixture of tag and hide and seek. When the rain intensified they scurried off, probably to find their parents. A bus pulled up to the curb less than 20 feet from my position and a solitary lady ran out with her backpack held over her head, veering in my direction. By now the storm had re-intensified to a torrential downpour. The blue and pink backpack she was wielding was covered in peace peace symbols and looked soaked through.
"Are you a hippy?" I asked, "Or just really into nuclear disarmament?"
" I'm kind of a hippy I guess." The lady smirked.
We soon fell into a short, strangely inquisitive conversation. The kind of conversation that only strangers brought together by inclement weather seem to know how to have.
"Are you from here?" I asked.
"Oh no, Grand Forks North Dakota" She replied.
I've been quite a few people from North Dakota lately, there is a couple from the shelter that moved here from there to find work recently.
"You must be excited to be in the big city then." I commented with mild sarcasm.
She shrugged, I think it went over her head that I was being sarcastic. Water began to torrent over the concrete slab we were standing on, I pointed to the nearby overhang attached to the public restrooms and we made for it. Two minutes later the rain stopped entirely and I made my way to the walk bridge over the river. Two couples were standing before the bridge looking down at the water while one of the girls smoked a cigarette and did her best to feign interest in what the others were talking about.
" See right there?" One of the guy said pointing to a spot under the bridge. " When the river is low there is a bunch of big rocks right there, last year I waded out with my guitar so my friend could take a picture."
"Cool..." Said the girl, clearly disinterested.
" You took your guitar out there?" Said the other girl.
" Yeah." replied the guy turning the more interested girl.
"Why?" asked the girl.
" To make it artsy." Said the guy.
I crossed the bridge and made my way from there up to the closest hospital in the area. This is the hospital I went to for my alcohol poisoning in December, hadn't been back since.. thankfully. I meandered in and stood by the receptionists desk near the ER doors. I just stood there for while not saying anything. I like to wait for people to notice me.
"Hi..." said the receptionist after a while. "Can I help you with something?"
" I think a friend of mine came in here last night..." I gave her Eve's full name.
The receptionist clacked the keys on her computer and then wrote a number down on a yellow post it note.
"She's in the other building, so you're gonna go down this long hallway with all the art on the walls, take a left, then veer right to an elevator bank and take it to the third floor."
"Thanks."
I felt a tightness in my chest as I made my way to the elevators.
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