Twilight is already painting the sky in vibrant colors of violet and mauve as she comes around the corner and sees what she's been looking for. It's a vacated store front, complete with a wide overhang and a deep entrance, just perfect for hiding.

As long as she can get away with it, that is.

She unfolds her cardboard and props the sides up against the two glass walls. The flimsy pressed board, something she dug out from behind the trash bin in the alley two streets over, goes on top of the sides. It falls off.

There are shiny gray stones in front of the restaurant next door. Crazy-amazing how the rocks perfectly match the color of the building. She risks everything to steal a few of them, knowing if someone catches her, they’ll make her leave.

Finally, her little box is secure enough to climb inside. It’s almost six feet long and three feet wide, but she measured it with her own feet, which are small, so the box is probably bigger.

~*~*~*~

Last night on the way home from work, I saw a cardboard box with shiny gray stones on top of it. I didn’t realize what I was looking at until I’d passed it, and then I did. A homeless person had constructed a shelter on one of the busiest streets in West Hollywood, next to (and across from) two restaurants with valet parking. This is an artsy-fartsy part of the city where cops and parking monitors troll regularly. Which meant the homeless person’s refuge lasted maybe an hour, if that long. Which maybe meant a scream for help?

This morning when I passed by, nothing was left but the stones.

Labels: random observation

12 Did the Unhingey Jiggy Engage in Unhingenosity
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