If you asked me what the worst place in the city was, I’d tell you it’s 125th and Lexington in Harlem. It’s like a fucking 3rd world country up there, people are laid out all over the sidewalks. Anyone who knew this town would tell you the same thing.
Here’s the thing though, Flatbush Junction in Brooklyn is definitely just as fucked up as 125th and Lex. It’s got all your basic ghetto features: pawn shops, liquor stores, check cashing. I used to end up there a lot when I was homeless because there was a Target and a Walgreens that carried the air duster I was hooked on huffing, and it was easy to shoplift it. The worst part of all those days were the nights, the times when everything was closed, and I’d have to kill 8 hours before I could get back to the grind of stealing and huffing. There was a place on the sidewalk in Flatbush where I’d make a pile of cardboard and try to sleep off the time I had to kill, which almost never worked. I just laid there feeling as awful as it’s possible to feel for what felt like a really long time.
The other day, I was there working at that very Target, where I was being trained to be a cell phone salesman. One of the customers was so happy with the outcome of their phone tech support visit that they decided to buy lunch for my cell phone team. I knew there was an amazing taco truck across the street from the store, so I went and grabbed my favorite pork tacos when it was time for my lunch break.
I decided to sit and eat my tacos in the same spot where I used to try to sleep when I had nowhere else to go. I don’t know why; I don’t know what it means. I sat there and had my tacos and a cherry coke. I had a Newport and went back to work.
