Somewhere Along the Way by Kathleen Knowles

Author:Kathleen Knowles [Knowles, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635553840
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2019-07-13T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Clearly, being unemployed was a full-time job. Each of the social services I wanted to sign up for took up a full day. The social workers I talked to weren’t unkind, but they had gone through these conversations with people like me so many times their job satisfaction, whatever it might have started at, had long since disappeared. I kept my anxiety tamped down enough so that I was polite to them. I’m sure that helped me get through the process. Not that many of my peers in those offices talking to the social workers had much patience or politeness left.

One day, I had to show up in person at the welfare office, and I sat there for five hours. The boredom made me fall into a conversation with a middle-aged black dude sitting next to me. His number was not far from mine, but both our numbers were far from the number showing who was being helped at that second.

“Yeah, girl, this is the biggest drag in the world, I’m telling you. Gov’mint don’t want you to have what’s coming to you. I heard Mr. Reagan talk about the welfare queens. He talking about the black folks. You got to know their code. You know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, well, we’re not all black.”

“I hear that. Just look around.” He gestured at the waiting area. It was true, there was a rainbow’s variety of people. We all had a common look, though: tired and bored.

My new friend, whose name was Jake, said, “You know about the plasma people, don’t you?”

“No, who are they?”

“Girl, you got to go check that out. You can sell your own plasma twice a week for twelve bucks a pop, if you ain’t scared of needles. You’re young and healthy, they happy to get your plasma.”

“Needles don’t bother me.” I agreed with the young part, but I wasn’t sure about the healthy. My blood was likely 20% alcohol.

“There you go. They over on Howard Street. Not far from detox. Ha ha. Those people at detox, they’re good customers.” He laughed at his joke.

Jake and I moved on to talk about music and TV, and so we passed the time until I was called. I put the idea of selling plasma into the back of my mind.

“Hey, thanks, man. See you.” I shook hands with him and plopped myself down in a chair next to a desk commanded by a social worker who looked as dragged out as I felt.

I finally received my Medicaid card in August. Adrian gave me the name and phone number of the pill doctor, and I duly obtained an appointment the following month. Adrian coached me on what to say. “Say you’re nervous all the time and you have back pain. Those are the best symptoms. You can get some good painkillers and more Valium. We can get good prices for both.”

“I am actually nervous and my back hurts. What about me?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you.” Adrian laughed and kissed my cheek.

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