Eden Onpeng

DOWNTOWN IN THE MORNING. FUCK YEAH. FUCK YOU. AND YOU. AND YOU. I’m goin’ down the road with my trusty old backpack and a pocket full of ROSES. HEY YOU WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE LOOKING AT. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU TOO! Oh. It is me. Pete. They must’ve cleaned the windows. WELL FUCK YOU ANYWAY. IMMA TAKE A NAP HERE AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME.

I dunno what time it is. And you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore. I can just tell by the temp and the gray that it’s early but not too early. The office and working folks already made it into the office, there were a lot of people passing through our street and walking around our tents earlier but now it’s quiet again and the sun is out.

You ask how long it has been? Been what? Oh, since I’ve been out here? Man. It’s been a while. I stopped counting a long time ago. I guess you can say life threw me lemons and I jumped into a fucking ocean of lemonade or some shit like that. I was living with my wife for a while but then we lost our house…and my drinking got bad, and things got worse from there…My wife left me after we lost our house, she blamed it on my drinking. She was probably right, but I also blame it on the feds. They were looking for me everywhere. They bugged my phone, my car, and our house. I saw them on the street and at the store, and when I saw them at work, that was it, I bounced. I dunno why they were coming at me, they just were, and they wanted to screw me over. And now I don’t carry none—see? No phones. It’s safer that way, ya know? I move around so they can’t track me. But they might still catch up to me someday.

But for now, here I am. Sleeping under the stars every night. Well, maybe not the stars and more like the smog. But close enough. Just making it day by day, you know?

You’re nice. Not a lotta people stop to talk to me. Thanks for the sandwich. Appreciate it. I don’t got much teeth these days, see? But I can still eat sandwiches. It’s good.

I feel it coming back. Imma finish this sandwich real quick. You should probably go now. People say I get belligerent and mean. I’m sorry. I probably won’t see you again but maybe it’s better that way. God bless.

FUCK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!! I JUST WANNA GO TO THE STORE TO GET SOME FUCKING JUICE BUT YOU ARE ALL LOOKING AT ME. STOP THE FUCK IT. YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK!!! IMMA HEAD DOWN BROADWAY AND FUCK YOU ALL. IT’S JUST ME AND MY BACKPACK AND POCKET OF FUCKING ROSES. YES AND THE WORLD. THANKS JOSH. FUCK YOU, THOMAS. GO TO SLEEP, IT’S FUCKING TEN IN THE MORNING. YES, I MADE THAT UP. I DON’T GOT A WATCH.