When guests sign in for the Day Center, they tell us what services they are here for:
- Laundry
- Shower
- Phone
- Coffee
- Storage
- Messages
- Nurse
That's the standard menu. However, our guests may also be here to:
- Use the bathroom
- Borrow a guitar
- Find something to read
- Have a conversation
- Consume massive amounts of sugar and creamer in a weak coffee solution
- Borrow some money
- Collect a debt
- Take a nap
- Bum a smoke
- Satisfy a community service obligation
- Complain about a) the Police; b) Social Security; c) Department of Human Services; d) Slumlords; e) Whoever is monitoring their thoughts
This week, I was able to offer a new service: Precious metals market quotations.
A fellow about my age, wearing camos with a floppy hat and Grizzly Adams beard, brought me a newspaper and asked if I could find the metal prices for him. The type was too small for him to read.
I mentioned that we might still have some of the reading glasses I brought in last week (the supermarket was closing them out for $2 apiece), and he was welcome to have a pair.
Which metals do you want, I asked, and he said, gold and silver. Gold was selling for about $1222 an ounce thanks to stock market jitters and silver was around $19 and a quarter.
He whistled and told me he'd come to town with a gold nugget he found the day before on his claim near Nucla — a remote mining town about 50 miles south of Grand Junction. He was paid $555 for it, he said. But he was also bringing his dog in to the vet for some ailment and ended up paying a $467 bill.
Well, someone's looking out for your dog, I said.
He went over to the window where we dispense towels and toiletries for the showers, as well as socks and reading glasses when we have them.
He came back with a pair of rose colored frames — probably the last ones — that were likely designed for women. He perched them on his nose and asked, are these me?
They work for me, I said.
We both laughed and he sat down to finish the paper.
