Ah, the dilemma.The other afternoon I was walking in town, and I came to some stairs that are a popular shortcut. The stairs are steep and pass through a small spat of woods, so it's a little darkish on the stairs even in broad daylight. I don't think I've ever even met another person on the stairs at the same time as me.
As I started down the stairs I noticed there were two bearded men sitting near the bottom of the flight, both of them on the same step, effectively blocking the stairway. They were drinking beer and talking softly. Battered knapsacks were on the ground nearby.
They let me pass with no problem, but I still felt a little strange. It was one of those "there's something just not right here" things that make your hackles rise a bit. It bothered me enough to remember it.
A few days later, I came down those same steps, this time early in the morning. No one was there, but a flash of movement caught my eye under the stoop of a building close to the bottom of the stairs. I walked by gingerly, trying to look without appearing to look. Someone was under the stoop, sleeping on a wad of plastic bags. I'd seen a flash of whitish T-shirt. If my eye hadn't caught that movement, I would never have noticed him. It's a tight spot, and dark under there.
That alarmed me a bit, but I thought okay, he's just trying to get a night's sleep and he has no home. Forget it.
A few more days passed, and once again, early in the morning, I happened on those stairs. This time there was a 16 oz. beer can sitting right in the middle of one of the steps. Since I had a pretty good idea where to look for the can's owner, I walked by the building near the stairs and glanced under the stoop. There was no movement, but there was definitely someone sleeping under there.
Okay, so here's the dilemma. Leave the situation alone? I'm not convinced that's a good plan. There are a lot of children around the area, and I have no way of knowing if this guy is harmless or not. Sure, he may well be. But then again, he may well not be. And I don't intend to find out first-hand.
Call the owner of the building and tell him he's got a stoop-squatter? That's one possibility.
Or, call the cops and tell them about it? I've been hearing that there has been a mini-onslaught of homeless people in Astoria of late, and the police are often called to deal with them. I don't know if that's a great solution, either. It's a no-win situation all the way around.
3 comments:
Although I'm sure he's harmless and will move on as soon as our 9 month rainy season hits, there is the little matter of sanitation. Not his body odor or even any vermin, but, to quote the old book, "Everybody Poops," and when you have people in a downtown environment, typically the human waste is deposited onto public spaces, flower beds, sidewalks, etc.
When you gotta go, you gotta go, but still...
Good point. But I think he's gone, now. There's still bedding under the stoop, but haven't seen anyone under there early in the morning for several days now. While I was dithering, someone else must have reported him.
For God sakes, don't call the cops. Not everyone's a terrorist, sicko, criminal. Unfortunately, this 1984 like mentality is the norm. You never know when someone might 'report' you.
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