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Today, the realization of the long anticipated "Stormy out on the Town". Which, if you've dealt with old age and decrepitude, you might correctly surmise was a bust.
He's gotten my postcard, is giving it back to me advising that it's from Queen Elizabeth, personal friend of his (this is the stamp, I was in a rush and didn't buy the more interesting ones...), and he's up and raring to go. Wheelchair to bus, bus downtown, wheelchair around.
First stop is the bank. While he's been laying around the hospital his OAP has been piling up.
The tellers are glad to see him, it's been a while, and he sits in the chair while they fetch him $200 - in $5, $10 & $20 denominations. From here to get cigarettes, he stops and gives a panhandler $5.00. He's rich for the day. Cigarettes bought it's now time to wheel him up to El Taco, and he sits across the street passed out in front of a window while I fetch his burrito. Returning I wake him, visit other of his street friends, acquaintances, rush him to the washroom (too late, by the looks of things), then to the candy store, the toy store, he buys some art off a friend - local "artist" whose art - like Stormy's - has a certain inimitable style.
An hour passes, I've wheeled him from one end of town to another, he's barking me directions, "Take me here" and "Do this" and "Take me there", I'm Ishmael to his Ahab, and he's now cold and wants to go home. But the bus doesn't come for another hour, and so we plot to fill the time, but he's done, done, done, I have to shake him to make sure he's not dead.
Return him to the hospital, he falls into bed. He's impressed by how far we've travelled, how many people we saw, how much he's done.
A couple of days later, visiting him again, he's recalling what a success the outing was, and we're going to have to do it again next week, he has money left to spend...
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Someone is on the Corner of Ward and Baker shouting: "I saw Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster in a Flying Saucer!!!!". Pretty soon there's a "Get Down To Earth" gofundme and the city is building a landing pad.
The prophet shouts "They'll be here at 6:00 AM on Wednesday Morning". The whole town assembles. There are signs - "Welcome" and "Get Vaxxed ASAP" and "Medical Freedom is your RIGHT!" and "Loch Ness Monster Free Bigfoot" and "Bigfoot Free Loch Ness Monster" and these protesters gather on opposite corners, and there are other signs that read: "Having babies would be bestiality" and "Take our love into the stars" and "We hope you come in peace and are vegetarian".
By Sunday evening the crowds are beginning to disperse. Somebody is overheard muttering: "Bigfoot AND the The Loch Ness Monster...how could I have been so gullible!!!".
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Visiting George A., also known as Stormy, in the hospital. Listless, wasting away, he lies in the bed all day. Does nothing. Looks out the window. He's glad of the visit, of gifts, of company but only briefly, after his cigarette he's done. The nurses say physically he's fine, but - no. No one is fine lying in bed 24 hours a day.
These are his latest scrolls.
"Cave home fur nurses..."
He's stopped calling himself Stormy, it's now "George", as if his life on was his stage and having left the stage he's free (or forced) to use his real name. But these are small, amusing, and producing 3 in 3 days where he used to produce dozens a day - while out and active, well, every sign is bad. The extended care home for him, I'm not betting he'll make it. He's not even trying.
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Found his name in the book of Tarot I'm reading and I was a little intrigued.
Of course, you remember him from "Live and Let Die" - probably the most remarkable thing about the film, but he's an interesting part of Haitian folklore/religion/culture.
He's death come calling in a top hat, tails, and sunglasses. He favors rum and cigars. I mean, how can he not be intriguing? And how is he not a spokeperson for Haitian Rum or Cigars?
Wiki on Baron Samedi:
"Baron Samedi is usually depicted with a top hat, black tail coat, dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils, as if to resemble a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in the Haitian style. He is frequently depicted as a skeleton (but sometimes as a black man that merely has his face painted as a skull), and speaks in a nasal voice. The former President-for-Life of Haiti, François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, modeled his cult of personality on Baron Samedi; he was often seen speaking in a deep nasal tone and wearing dark glasses.[2]
He is noted for disruption, obscenity, debauchery, and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum. Additionally, he is the loa of resurrection, and in the latter capacity he is often called upon for healing by those near or approaching death, as it is only the Baron that can accept an individual into the realm of the dead.[3][4]
Baron Samedi spends most of his time in the invisible realm of vodou spirits. He is notorious for his outrageous behavior, swearing continuously and making filthy jokes to the other spirits. He is married to another powerful spirit known as Maman Brigitte, but often chases after mortal women. He loves smoking and drinking and is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth or a glass of rum in his bony fingers. Baron Samedi can usually be found at the crossroads between the worlds of death and the living. When someone dies, he digs their grave and greets their soul after they have been buried, leading them to the underworld."
To read more on the old Baron: Wikipedia on Baron Samedi
TO read more on the LWA, or LOA: Wikipedia on LWA (more Haitian Vodou spirits)
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Posted by user DVariant on Reddit. Found it appropriate.