Living in between the cracks of mainstream society

Living on the streets you notice a lot of things that nobody else notices. . . For example, for the last two years there’s been this homeless street person that has been living in the men’s room in the basement of this building on the campus. Just about every night he’s in there in the toilet stall. All night long. And I’m probably just about the only person that has noticed him in there.

He’s pretty smart how he does it. For one thing, he picked this wing of the building in the basement that’s mostly deserted in the evening. All the rooms are used as offices during the daytime, so after normal business hours, almost nobody is down there. The only person that goes down there in the evening is the janitor, and once he’s finished cleaning up the area (which he does at the same time every evening) there’s no one else around for the rest of the night that might bust him. So he usually waits until after the janitor has done his rounds, and then around 9:30 he’ll sneak into the men’s room. And he camps out there in the stall for the entire night. . . The whole building gets locked up at 10PM, so after that it’s even less likely that anybody is going to come down there. So he’s got the whole place to himself all night long.

There’s an outlet in the men’s room, so he can charge his cellphone. And he’ll usually bring to-go food in there to eat. He’s got running water (including hot water). And all the paper towels he needs. And the place is immaculate — it’s recently been cleaned by the janitor after all. And while it might seem a bit scuzzy to some of you, the idea of spending the night in a toilet stall. It is in fact warm and dry. As well as safe. Which is more than you can say about where most homeless street people spend their nights. Plus, it’s rent free. As long as he gets out of there before 8 in the morning when the grounds crew comes around to unlock the building, he’s home free.

But that’s what it’s like living on the streets. It’s like we live behind the screen. Behind the curtain. Backstage, hidden away from view from the crowd (and one of my abiding street mottos is: “Invisibility is next to godliness”). Street people sometimes remind me of water that seeps in between the cracks in the walls and the floors and into the spaces that nobody else is using or notices. . . The only reason I notice the guy is because I’m living in between the cracks myself.