Memories of A Street Rat Our love is... (Part One)

Valley Of Kamloops British Columbia Canada 

Memories Of A Street... Our Love Is (Part 1)


It was the summer of 94 and at this time I was living in the city of Kamloops BC on one of those rare occasions that I had a home. I just left my girlfriend and at the same time breaking her heart by being a selfish bastard and made promises in my ignorance that were ignored. I promised that after she moved to a better place to get her things together (our first look and instant love was a crash of worlds and chaos erupted) then I would be there to begin again. I was a child and was to scared to face my problems and ran but that's another story.

At the time I was traveling with a guy who wanted to follow me on one of my excursions and had no experience traveling, so getting a home seemed the logical choice. (Getting a home was the only way of stopping him from whining)

We were living in this slummy one bedroom illegal basement suit owned by a family of 12 that lived upstairs. They were a richly cultured family that loved their music loud so I was seldom ever home. They did share many of meals and always wanted to dance. At least I can say I was seldom alone at this point. Within the first week of living in Kamloops I met a couple named Mike and Meadow and had invited them to stay at the place, as they also were living on the streets at the time. They were both from Ontario and were seeking the peace and relaxation of BC, and fell on hard times trying to get ahead. I the big heart I am invited them for as long as they wanted or as long until the money ran out for rent. I had saved a few dollars and was working as a grunt building a fountain in the downtown core at an old church.

The summer was just peaking and we all decided to go downtown to waste the day away, and maybe a chance of making some money. Hanging out in front of the pool hall a guy walked up to meadow and I and asked us if we wanted to work for him. We said sure as mike and nick (My traveling companion) were out trying to devise their own scheme to make some cash. It was a simple job, all you had to do was sit there and the customers came to you. We grabbed a tall beer and sat on the side of the street and became scum to the people with the dirty looks walked past. In an hour we were already ahead and was only making profit, the day was busy as it was a payday friday. As we sat and drank the day away we started singing

our love is like water

pinned down and abused for being strange

our love is no other

than me alone for me all day

our love is like water pinned down and abused

As we sat singing away a girl about 14 or 15 sat down beside us and started to sing. She joined us in melody as the sun beat upon our heads.

all over you, all over me

the sun, the fields, the sky

I've often tried to hold

the sea the sun, the fields, the tide

pay me now,

lay me down

We laughed for awhile and then introduced ourselves, her name was Kerri, she was 15 years old and a prostitute living on the street. She ran away from a small town in Alberta Canada close to Edmonton. Left home because of the usual small town blues. Boring, religious and no freedom and went seeking the better life only to find the bitter truth. The world if it ever was a safe place, is no more. I looked at meadow and we both told her to get her things were going to our place. We left after two hours and 90 dollars later and sought to find the guys.

our love is like water
pinned down and abused for being strange
our love is no other
than me alone for me all day
our love is like angels pinned down and abused yea yah

We sat that night in bliss, music was playing as new friends were made. We shared stories of our walks on the road, talking until the sun rose above the valley. I sat that morning watching it grow up pondering on my growing family. The end of the month would be near and we were wasting the money faster then we could bring it in. So for the next few days I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what we were going to do. By this point we had talked kerri out of working the streets. Just the thought of her being down there was to much stress for us to handle. We had everything we needed, food and drink were not plenty but neither sparse and drugs were always around me. (I manifested a world of abuse and many times I spent wondering how I was wasted everyday) One night alone Karri and I sat talking about parents and life and I shared a few stories with her, she was confused and scared and she really just wanted to go home. That moment I devised a plan to get us Edmonton, I had a paycheck coming up for almost 3 weeks worth of work. I told everyone my plan and we agreed that we were all going to take Karri home. All my plan needed was a couple hundred dollars more and the help of my friends....