A few days ago, an OD in front of Chahko Miko Mall. He/She didn't survive. No word on who it is, they seldom get obituaries, merely another one gone, an unnamed statistic for the papers, and you look at the homeless, for the usual faces, there are so many that have migrated here in the last couple of months, and you wonder who it was...
It should be mandatory that they get the same dignity we accord our own relations, that the newspaper publish a photo and obituary, to the best of their ability. A statistic has no face, but it is made up of hundreds and now thousands...
***
Then Cali, yesterday. On Facebook, when I finish work, there's a flurry of posts, a family looking for their daughter, left Procter to drive into Nelson for an appointment, never arrived. Pictures, I know here, 17? 18? years old? We worked together about 3 years ago. That restaurant was a curse. Pictures of her with her "N" sticker and her car. I taught her all about pedophiles and warned her away from every one of my colleagues. She took it in good humour.
The posts, people are volunteering to look for her, walking the highway where they think she went missing.
It ends badly, I'm not sure, but reading between the lines she crossed the highway and hit the water.
The posts, back and forth, people, the community, out looking for her, she was lovely and never an unkind word could be said about her. That's a rare thing. I share the post with the folks I knew that worked with her.
Chris, he was a first responder when they found the car. It's what you sign up for, first responder, volunteer firefighter, but I don't think anything prepares you for that, and he has trauma of his own.
So the days become tinted with sadness, and the parents are grieving a beautiful daughter, and so many are speechless, read the comments, the condolences, she was a bright light, visited me in the sushi restaurant, ran into her in the library, she'd always stop and talk, have a laugh, she'd honk and wave if she passed you - and now ??
Small town living. In the city, people disappear and you forget them, so many people, so many new people, new faces, and those who've slouched off to underground burrows are unremarked.
Down Baker tonight to find my medication, the streets, patios, bars, they're full. It's summer, life goes on as usual, but -
Well, you know.