Drug Addiction Stories & Info

Living in railroad cars wasn’t my idea of staying at the Ritz, but it was better than taking my chances at the parks or in downtown doorways.  Missions weren’t an option; they forced God on you and as far as I can tell turned more people away from him than towards him.  Anyway, I did okay with the railway cars. I even had a friend with me.  We sort of used the buddy system. Somehow it felt safer having someone along. Every morning we’d use the river water we had in a bucket inside the railroad car to splash our faces and rinse our mouths out.  There wasn’t money for toothpaste and no one we dealt with ever seemed to care anyway.  We’d make our way toward downtown to start hustling up some money.  Usually that meant picking out a half way decent looking guy who propositioned me.

I’d usually get my first John early, but as the day wore on, sometimes it got tougher.  Kelly, my friend, did what she had to do.  We rarely saw each other during the day until around 6 when we’d meet up in front of the bank downtown.  From there we’d start looking to score.  Kelly was into needles but I liked to smoke crack.  We usually knew where we could find some.  If we couldn’t, we’d keep on looking until we did.  If we found some early enough, we’d hit the mission just for dinner.  Usually that was the only time we ate.

Some days were better than others.  When we were really lucky we’d get enough money for a hit that night and one first thing in the morning, which was heaven.  On very rare occasions, we even got enough money to buy something to eat.  In the end, though, we’d go back to our railroad car and enjoy that day’s score.  After that, we’d either go back out into the night looking for more money or we’d just laugh and talk the night away.

We didn’t like for people to know about our sleeping spot, but once in a while we’d meet up with someone we knew and invite them back to our place.  One night in particular, we scored big time and happened to have run into a friend, Diane.  All three of us walked back to our place and enjoyed our daily “take”.