Strange Encounters

In July 2008, my son came down with a type of pneumonia due to aspirating and needed to be admitted to the hospital. This wasn't the first of his admissions, as the previous year he had landed a stay that lasted the course of a month. The hospital itself is located in the center of the city. It borders four main roads that run in and out of the city and a plaza where homeless and drug addicts hang out during the day, and often during the night. For the most part, if they ask anything of you, it's usually just for a cigarette, or some change, which gets old after so many have asked time and time again. Most are very grateful and polite even if you don't have it to give. I do think that if they worked and got into a program, that they could fix their life if they had the desire to do so. Then you have a handful of people that are homeless or a drug addict and rather strange. I wouldn't necessarily say they are ungrateful, just weird and they turn their circumstance into a disease. They act out for attention, and hang around the hospital grounds, I guess looking for pity. They feel sorry for themselves, and expect others to feel likewise. Some don't understand that it is not too late to fix their lives, and get jobs, education and clean up.

I have been unlucky enough to meet these stranger people and their even stranger behaviors during my son's last admission. I can't recall seeing this many odd people even during his longer stay from the previous year. This admission was definitely stranger then the last. For the most part, I try to overlook and even ignore them. Parents, mine included, teach their children to not talk to strangers, and based on the people that I have crossed recently, I'm learning the importance of this. These people have certainly put the meaning into the word stranger.

My son's admission began on a Sunday night. He was admitted through the emergency room. During the day, there really wasn't a whole lot of action going on outside of the hospital. My boyfriend only mentioned having to lend a cigarette to one homeless man during the whole day. I was thinking, he hasn't seen anything yet. I was fortunate enough to not have any one bother me that day.

The highlight of the night was when a man, obviously just discharged from the hospital came up to us. This man was not homeless, he may have been a drug abuser but he definitely fit into the strange category. My boyfriend was preparing to leave for the night, so I walked out with him so we could smoke together before he left. The strange man begged and pleaded for a cigarette. I advised him that we didn't have any extra. He went on and on about how he didn't have any money and he asked if we could save some of the cigarette we were smoking for him. My boyfriend and I looked at each other with this really disgusted look and we both did an eye roll to each other. Inside myself I was saying, "you have to be kidding me!" The man walked away. We decided that if we started to walk back the other direction near the hospital entrance, that maybe the man wouldn't follow us. We could see the man still over near where we had been, asking anyone in the vicinity if they had a cigarette for him. My boyfriend and I both thought that there was no way he would follow us back to the door. We couldn't believe that the man had asked us to save some of our cigarette for him. It was not only rude to make us feel obligated to do that, but very disgusting as well! How did he know that we didn't have some contagious disease? While we were discussing the man, I turned around only to find that the man had in fact followed us back. He was standing there waiting for the butt of my smoke. He proceeded to stand in OUR circle, looking like he was part of OUR crowd. I felt so violated in a way! My boyfriend stomped his cigarette out; he was determined not to give the man his butt. I was trying to quickly finish my cigarette, and I could feel this man looking at me, at my every inhale. I finally just passed the rest over to the crazy man, just to get him out of my face. I felt like he was a begging dog waiting for a scrap to fall. How disgusting. The man walked off sucking in the last inhales of the cigarette that I had passed him. I should have known that this strange event would lead to many more strange occurrences, and that this stay was going to be one that I would remember for a long time.

The following day, Monday, I went outside for a morning cigarette with my coffee and seen a lady that literally looked like she was going to fall on her face. She was walking around the hospital plaza with her eyes shut. She looked like she was going to just fall over. I don't even know how this lady was managing to walk the way she was, and with her eyes shut without falling. There was a nurse sitting on the bench next to me enjoying her break. I got the nurses attention and asked her what was wrong with the lady and if we needed to get help for her. She advised me, that there was nothing wrong with her, she was just high. I had never seen someone that high before, so I kept staring. It was very weird to me to see this happening before my eyes-in broad daylight in front of the hospital! Eventually, everyone's attention was drawn to this lady. A group of nurses started giving this lady a hard time telling her she needed to get help. The lady of course denied being high, but she was so drugged I'm not even sure she realized where she was at. I didn't understand (and still don't) why this lady wasn't arrested for public intoxication. She was grossly intoxicated! I listened to the nurses and others hound the drug addict about being high and doing this to herself. During all of this, several other bums asking for change were bothering me. This was a particularly strange day to say the least.

On Tuesday afternoon, I saw two men sitting on the bench outside of the hospital. From the looks of them they didn't look homeless. However, they were very obnoxious. Obnoxious enough to be considered strange. One of the men, was screaming at the top of his lungs repeatedly, "Loose Ones!". I really do not know what this means, and I don't think I care to find out. After I walked by him, he proceeded to say "Hey, Baby." I surely was not impressed. I proceeded to walk past the men and I hid behind the shrubs near a man that was a janitor for the hospital. I told him that I thought there were a lot of weird people out today, and he replied "Yep, It's always like this." I was beginning to think that I should not come outside anymore. Each day was bringing more and more strange people, encounters and events.

Wednesday evening, I was outside having my nightly smoke when a man walked up to me. I was instantly thinking in my mind, please don't let this be another homeless man. I can't take anymore. However, this man wanted me to be aware that directly behind the ledge that I was sitting on in the bushes, there were rats running through. Thank God! Someone that actually looking out for me out there, someone that didn't ask for anything from me! That was probably the only person that talked to me outside during our week stay that wasn't strange. It was only strange because he didn't ask anything of me! After the man saved me from the rats, and I was done outside, I went back in the hospital and proceeded to the elevator. A nurse was also getting on and she started making conversation with me. Once she stopped talking, I realized that she was constantly making sounds. At first, I didn't recognize she had a problem, so I asked her to repeat what she had said. She ignored me, and it wasn't until I heard it again, and again that that I knew something was wrong with her. The sounds were getting louder and I really wanted to get off of the elevator. Finally, I was the 5^th, floor, which was my stop and I was able to leave the nurse with her uncontrollable sounds. That whole elevator ride was very uncomfortable. I thought it was rather strange for a person to have a problem like she did, and be a nurse. I wondered how it effected her job, and the communication with her co-workers and patients. I guess I give her credit for not letting her "illness" interfere with her life, and employment.

Thursday morning, the outside seemed to be more compacted with homeless people and strangers then ever before. A lady came walking down the street screaming and hollering at cars, people and anything that was in her path. She walked through the main entrance of the hospital, and even at the other side of the hospital, I could hear her screaming. As a nurse walked by me outside, I heard her say "That lady needs to be admitted to the psychiatric ward". The nurse obviously didn't know that I had heard her make the comment, but I couldn't help but giggle a little bit, because I completely agreed. There was obviously something wrong with that woman, and she was letting it show to the world. Next, a very dirty homeless man with his sack came over to me and gave me a saga story. He started off saying "Excuse me mam, can I ask you a question? It's not a bad question, but I need to ask. You don't know what it's like to be homeless. People look at you funny because you are different. If I take you over and show you what I'm going to buy...." I cut him off at that point, and said "I'm sorry I don't have anything for you". He walked away. That bum didn't realize that I had heard his story many times before. During my son's past admissions I remember that same line, from the same man. Part of me wonders if he was really homeless, or whether he was just a drug addict looking for food. The last thing I witnessed that morning, and definitely not the weirdest was this man dressed in a business suit, minus the jacket. He was walking up the sidewalk carrying a book. I'm assuming it was a Bible. While walking, he was preaching as loud as he could about the gospel. This man was definitely not homeless, I guess just really religious? Still an odd thing to see, and it definitely fits in to my stranger category.

Friday morning, the day of my son's discharge, I went outside with my morning coffee and sat at the hospital plaza park. There was a man outside working for a newspaper trying to sell papers and get subscriptions. He noticed me, and proceeded to tell me how wonderful I looked. I felt like asking him what was wrong with him because there was no way I looked wonderful. I had been at the hospital with my son for five days straight at this point. I was wearing dirty clothes from the prior day, had not brushed my hair and didn't even have a spec of make-up on my face. Heck, I could have probably passed as a homeless woman! The newspaper man, asked me if I was single, and for my phone number. I told him that I was happily engaged and I would prefer not giving him my number. He was a bit pushy and insisted I take down his number in case it didn't work out with my boyfriend and I. He went on and on about how he worked for the paper, where he lived, and how he would love to take me out to the movies. At this point, I'm feeling disgusted and thankfully my cell phone rang and I used that as an excuse to walk away from the man.

I was so happy that my son was being discharged. I don't think I could have taken anymore strangeness. From the entire week, I learned the importance of not talking to strangers. I learned that many strange people make up this world. I'm hoping that I don't have to encounter any more strangers for a long time.