"K" Gone Missing, "L" Gone Home

I am worried about K, my homeless friend. Tonight was the second week in a row that she wasn't in her customary spot outside Flagstaff Station. Three weeks ago she was bowed down under the weight of a toothache, getting ready to head over to the chemist to buy something for the pain. K can't do with losing any more teeth; she's only got about six in her whole head. When I saw her, I had very little money in my purse and a grumpy mood on. I could only give her under 2 bucks to go towards it. I do not even know if she ended up having enough money to buy what she needed. When she took off to the chemist I let her go without insisting I go with her. I wish I had.

This morning I contacted a few dentists to try to find out what could be done for her medically with no cash. Turns out there are a few options that could involve her getting dentures for no cost, which is a wonderful thing. And now I don't know where she is, I don't have a number to contact her on. I have written my number in the book she carries around but whether or not she would actually ring me is another story. I am having visions of her in hospital with septicemia, over-dramatic sorts of thoughts. Two weeks in a row is a long time when she is usually there every week.

L on the other hand, I haven't seen for months. But I saw him yesterday. He has a full head of teeth - they are dentures as well, paid for, he told me, by a dentist who did not charge him. Pretty nice, huh. There's plenty of kind people in the world, despite what the Channel 9 news is telling me. L told me about another nice man who gave him 250 bucks a few months ago because L needed a few weeks' rent in advance to secure the place he had managed to get.

Pretty stoked, L is, about the roof over his head. He only needs to go out begging several days a week now to get by. L is the most gentle, beautiful man. He has been living on the streets for years. Schizophrenia, I think, from memory, though I have never seen any hint, just an inability to meet my gaze for too long and a sort of shy and hesitant manner of speaking. He has the most beautiful blue eyes. I really am so fond of this man. I asked him about K, if he had seen her. "Not for a few weeks," he said, not since he saw her with a swollen face. Aggh.

Yesterday he was clasping his hands together and thanking God out loud for his new home. "Thank God," he said. "Do you know how nice it is to go home and climb in bed and pull the covers over?

"I don't know what I would do now if I ended up out here again," he said, indicating the concrete streets. "Now I have a bed and a roof, I think I would crumble."

I hope L never gets the chance to find that out.