Part 1.  {It was two years ago, you might want to review it.}

The shadows were getting longer as the sun began to set.  Sam tightened the drawstrings on his hoody leaving only a little bit of his face showing.  It felt like everyone was staring at him all the time, and he didn’t want to be recognized.

His feet took him aimlessly through the city center which had lots of small shops that closed up by supper time.  He couldn’t go back to the park, and being around houses after dark would just attract attention.  Some of the larger shops had nice landscaping between the parking lot and the building, and he could crawl behind the bushes to get out of the wind.  The rain last night had caught him off guard.  It had stayed cloudy until the very end of the day, so his clothes were still damp.  Sam knew he needed to find a dry place tonight.

The hunger pangs started up again.   He still had some cash left, but Sam couldn’t go into a store or fast-food joint after he saw his face on the TV news at the coffee shop two days ago.  Posters were starting to show up on the doors of some of the shops – “Have you seen this boy?”.  They were using his high school year book photo from last year, so it didn’t look all that much like him now.

* * * * *

Sam turned the corner into an alley and almost ran into a scrawny homeless guy in a tattered jacket with stringy black hair sticking out from under a stocking cap.

“Hey kid.  Hey kid.  You got some money?  Gimme a buck.  Yeah, gimme a buck.”

Sam tried to step around the guy: “No, I don’t have any money.  Leave me alone.”

The homeless guy moved directly in front of Sam: “Hey kid.  I know you got a buck.  Gimme a buck.”

Sam’s hand went instinctively into the pocket of the hoody, and he gripped the revolver.  He started backing up: “I don’t have any money.  Leave me alone”.

The homeless guy stood up straight and eyed Sam.  “You know they’re going to catch you sooner or later if you don’t learn how to become invisible.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I know you’re the kid.  Your face is all over the place.”

The blood drained from Sam’s face.

“It’s OK man.  I ain’t gonna turn you in.  I bet all those people had it coming.  They all do.”

Sam’s mouth moved, but nothing came out.

“Listen, my name’s Vinnie.   Vinnie is here to help.  Vinnie helps all the kids that show up on the street.”

Sam stood frozen in place.

“Hey kid, I can help you.  You just gotta let me.  I know all about being invisible.  I been following you for a day and a half, and you never noticed me.  I can help you.”

Sam said nothing.

“First of all, you got to lose the hoody.  Everybody lookin’ for a kid in a black hoody.  Might as well paint a bullseye on your back.”

“I . . . I can’t get rid of it.” Sam’s hands fidgeted in the hoody pockets.

“You ain’t still carrying that gun are you.  Cause, that’s just stupid.  You need to ditch the gun.   If they catch you with the gun, it’s a slam dunk.  Fast train to a needle.  First thing, you gotta get rid of the gun.  Then, you can say the old man beat you up and you ran away from home.  No gun, no proof you did it.  Gimme the gun.  I’ll take care of it.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Well, now you gotta decide.  You can turn around and walk out of this alley and try to hide somewhere.   Or you can decide to trust me.  No skin off my teeth. But you gotta choose.”

Vinnie stared at Sam for what seemed like minutes, then Sam slowly pulled the revolver out of the hoody pocket and held it out.  Vinnie stepped forward and carefully lifted the gun from Sam’s hand; then he put the gun in the front pocket of the baggy pants he was wearing.

“You got anything else in the pockets of that hoody?”

Sam pulled a clear bag from the other hoody pocket with a few rounds of 38 Special.  He offered them up to Vinnie.  They also disappeared into Vinnies pants.

“Alright then, take off the hoody and give it to me.”  Vinnie started taking of his jacket.  “We gonna switch.”

Sam handed off his hoody and took the jacket in return. “This stinks.  It’s terrible.”

“Of course, it stinks.  It’s part of being invisible.  People smell ya before they see ya.  They turn away and avoid eye contact.”  Vinnie pulled off his stocking cap. “Put this on and pull it down low.”

Vinnie turned the hoody inside out and pulled it on.

“Now we gotta do something about your jeans and shoes.  They just too nice.  See that puddle over there?  You go jump up and down in it.  Big splashes.  Get shit all over you.”

“But I’ll get all wet.”

“Yeah, you get wet.  Then you get dry.  Funny how that works.  Just do it.”

The puddle turned to mud as Sam jumped up and down.  His shoes and pants were completely covered, and the smell of the mud filled Sam’s nose.

“Well, you ain’t completely invisible yet, but it’s a good start.   I bet you must be pretty hungry by now.  If we get going now, we can get to the bakery a couple of blocks over before they dump the stuff they can’t sell into the dumpster.  Good eatin I tell ya.”

Vinnie turned and started down the alley quickly.   Sam stood still, uncertain what to do.  Vinnie yelled over this shoulder.  “Come on boy.  You already in deep.  Might as well keep going.”

Sam stepped out of the puddle, then hustled to catch up to Vinnie.

 

Welcome to my nightmare

I think you’re gonna like it

I think you’re gonna feel you belong

A nocturnal vacation

Unnecessary sedation

You want to feel at home cause you belong

 

Welcome to my nightmare, whoa-whoa-oh

 

After a few minutes, Vinnie turned down a new alley.  Sam could see a bunch of kids milling around half way down the alley talking amongst themselves.  One of the kids noticed Vinnie and Sam.  He said something to the other kids, and they all stopped talking.

The back door of the bakery opened just as Vinnie and Sam arrived.   An arm reached out and put a black drum liner full of stuff down on the back stoop.  The arm withdrew, and the door closed.  Vinnie nodded at one of the kids who rushed up to the stoop and grabbed the bag.  The kid trotted over and handed the bag over the Vinnie and then took several steps back.

The kids sort of lined up, and Vinnie handed out small loaves of bread to each of them.  They all fell back quietly and started eating.  Vinnie took out two larger loaves, then handed to the bag to one of the bigger kids.

“Make sure all the smalls get something to eat before anyone gets seconds.”  The kid nodded in return.

Vinnie walked over to Sam and handed him one of the loaves.

“You follow us.  We got a place to crash at night.  We stay dry and warm.  You’ll be OK with us.”  Then Vinnie turned and headed down the valley.  All the other kids fell in behind him.

Sam followed behind, far enough back to not feel like he was “in the group”, but not so far as to feel disconnected from them either.

The kid that had fetched the bag from the stoop stopped and waited for Sam to catch up.

“I’m Jacko.  I’m supposed to make sure you don’t get lost on the way.   Vinnie says you my job now.”

Sam said “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine”.

Jacko, shook his head.  “Vinnie said it, I do it.   Come on.  You gotta move faster.”

Sam picked up his pace, and Jacko stepped in beside him.

* * * * *

They both ate in silence as they walked behind the main group.  “This bread is fresh.” Sam mentioned.

“Oh yeah, they give us the good stuff.” Jacko replied.

“But Vinnie told me the shops put out the stuff they can’t sell anymore because it’s too old”.

Jacko shrugged his shoulders.  “Maybe a long time ago.  But now that Vinnie is here, the shops do better for us.  Cause if they don’t, . . .”, Jacko shrugged again.

“What do you mean?”

Jacko continued, “Well the shops don’t like it when a bunch of bums shit on the sidewalk every morning before they open up.   So, Vinnie makes sure it don’t happen.  And if the shops forget after a while, well then Vinnie makes sure it happens again.   At least till we get better stuff from the shop.”

Sam stopped in his tracks.  “That’s disgusting.”

“Don’t care.  We eat every day.  Come on keep up.”

 

Welcome to my breakdown

I hope I didn’t scare you

That’s just the way we are when we come down

We sweat and laugh and scream here

Cause life is just a dream here

You know inside you feel right at home here

 

Welcome to my breakdown, whoa-whoa-oh

 

You’re welcome to my nightmare, yeah-yeah-ah

 

Vinnie led the kids on a zigzag path through parking lots and alleyways until they reached an abandoned industrial building.  Most of the windows were broken out, and the double doors facing the alley were hanging cockeyed on broken hinges.

Sam watched everyone go inside and then stepped through the doors himself.  The light was dim, but he saw broken furniture, wooden crates, and carboard boxes spread out over a concrete floor.  Vinnie’s crew had dragged in several steel drums.  They had started fires in two of the drums on opposite sides of the building.   Scrap wood was piled up in different places to keep the fires going.  Most of the kids stood around one of the two barrels to keep warm.

Vinnie waved to Sam, so Sam walked over to meet him.

“This is home now.”, Vinnie said.  “You’re safe here.  Everybody takes care of everybody.  You get a dry place to sleep and something to eat each day.  We’ll give you a couple of days to fit in, then we’ll get you working with the others.”

Vinnie called to one of the girls next to one of the fires.  “Tina, come here.”

She walked over.  “What do you need Vinnie?”

“This is Georgie.  He’s going to be staying with us.”

Sam started to talk “No, that’s not my name . . .”  But Vinnie cut him off.

“Yes, it is.  That other guy is gone now.  No one here cares about that other guy.  You Georgie now.  Everything is new from here on out.”

“Tina, take Georgie and find a place for him to crash tonight.  We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow.”

“Sure Vinnie.  I got it.”

Tina walked up to Sam and got very close.

“Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.”

“Are you going to make me cry Georgie?”

“No.  Never.” Sam stumbled over his words.

“Good.”  She stood up on her toes and kissed Sam on the cheek.  Then she turned and took his hand.  “We’ll find some place for you to stay warm tonight.”

 

Welcome to my nightmare

I think you’re gonna like it

I think you’re gonna feel you belong

We sweat and laugh and scream here

Cause life is just a dream here

You know inside you feel right at home here

 

After they left, Vinnie sat on a nearby crate.   He then took the revolver from his pocket and held it in his lap.  He pressed the cylinder release and let the cylinder fall open.  He pushed the ejector rod and watched six cartridges spill out onto his lap.  The kid had kept it loaded and ready to go.  Vinnie put the cartridges back in to the chambers, spun the cylinder, then snapped it shut.

He smiled.  Possibilities.  So many possibilities.

 

Welcome to my nightmare, ooh-ooh-ooh

 

Welcome to my breakdown

 

Yeah

 

 

Welcome to My Nightmare  — Alice Cooper (1975)