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Joined: Jun 2003
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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
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I understand that today recycling is available at many urban supermarkets, although it is unpopular in some places because homeless people are attracted to it.
Back in Clark's day their wouldn't have been such easy access.
Anyway, let me know what you think!
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Jun 2013
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Another excellent chapter! He’d been separated by the press of numerous passengers and he’d stood to allow an elderly woman to sit.
It made him feel better in a way. Although he was in the worst place in his life, he hadn’t forgotten what his parents had taught him. Being kind to others didn’t cost much, and if it brought goodness to their lives, it was worth the effort. Clark's still a decent person, in spite of his circumstances. “It’s so much nicer here than the shelter,” Clark said. He felt embarrassed even admitting that he’d been in the shelter, but the preacher’s expression wasn’t judgmental. “It’s hard to understand how they can be so…”
Brother Wayman had asked them to stay while women from the church packed up some bones for Rufus.
“Cold?” Wayman said. “It’s a hard job, protecting people from each other and from themselves. It’s easy to get burned out.” Very true. After a while, even the most compassionate person can get overwhelmed and start seeing only the worst. Clark couldn’t help himself; he’d had pent up anger and he had to complain. “They kept acting like I was gay.”
“Clark,” Wayman said. “About four in ten young people in your situation are gay. Why do you think they are homeless in the first place?” Quite true. Some parents aren't able to accept a gay child. I've known kids whose parents threw them out because they were gay. “There are services out there to help,” Wayman said. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
“Isn’t that kind of what your sermon was about? Helping each other?” Clark asked. He smiled slightly, then shook his head. “I can’t…”
“I can’t make you do anything,” Wayman said. “But the least I can do is let you know what’s available.”
“Charlie is helping me,” Clark said stubbornly. He stared at the floor. The more official services he got involved in, the more likely someone would make a connection between the teenager in Metropolis, and the crime back in Kansas, no matter how tenuous.
However, he felt comfortable around this man; he was the first person not homeless himself not to look down on Clark.
“But ok…I’ll listen.” It's good that Clark is meeting some people who care.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2011
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Meeting Charlie has certainly been good for Clark, showing him the ropes of how to survive in the big city without means. I'm glad Charlie is showing Clark whom he can trust and who he shouldn't. Interesting analogy between Clark's situation and young gay runaways. I'm always shocked at how heartless and cruel some people can be to their own children. A friend of my sister's had been kicked out of his house for being gay, and we took him in until graduation so he wouldn't end up on the streets. I hadn't realized (or recalled) that Clark had given his full real name to Charlie. I can see why he's afraid that someone will try to connect the dots. Although, I'm sure back in the 70s and early 80s, the communication between children services of different states would be less than it is today. He probably doesn't have anything to worry about in that respect unless Kansas has put an APB on him or are actively looking for him out of state, or they stick his photo on a milk carton under the guise of searching for a Missing Person. $10 for a weekly bus pass seems pretty steep for the late 1970s though, since it was probably about $0.50 a ride back then. A "reduced" 7-day bus pass (probably for senior citizens, students, and children) currently runs about $15 in NYC. I'm surprised that they got $5 for recycling, but not that they had to lug it across town. You'd be hard pressed to get that much for a whole bag nowadays. Keep in mind that you can still buy a fast food meal nowadays for $5 (well, maybe not in the city) and this was 30 years ago when a $1 stretched a lot further. /Sigh. I remember back in a time, the golden days of early 1990's, when you could buy a gallon of gas for $0.50./ Keep in mind, back in 1980, minimum wage in NY was still fairly low. According to NY-State it was only $3.10/hr (not that it feels much higher now). I'm not trying to be nit-picky, but these are the type of details which jump out at middle aged folks like me.  I love your story and the realism, just keep in mind the era in which it's set.
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
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"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Dec 2012
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Great part! But I keep wondering what happened in Kansas...? I'm sure he didn't do anything wrong, maybe he is feeling guilty for not being able to help someone in danger or something like that.... 
Clark: "So what are you saying? I should go crawling back on my hands and knees?"
Martha: "No, honey. Fly back. It's faster!!"
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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I am loving the realism with which you are portraying the situation of homeless youth---perfect!! I too would like more details of what drove him to leave Kansas
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Aug 2012
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I really like Brother Wayman. He seems to be a truly good man.
I am glad Clark found friends. I hope things get better for him.
The bus pass does seem a bit steep in price. 6 years ago, the Metro-Detroit bus pass ran about $50 a month if I recall correctly. Although we don't have a subway.
John Pack Lambert
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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It's hard to comment on this story because the feeling of what Clark is going through is so real. I hope things get better for him soon. I wish we took better care of the less fortunate in our society.
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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
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Yes Virginia, there is a sant....er, as to the questions...
Well, I used historical New York Metro fares as a baseline....in the early 1980s fares were 75 cents. They are now $2.50 or somewhat more than three times as much. A full priced seven day pass is now thirty dollars, so I assumed $10 was reasonable. Clark wouldn't be eligible for a reduced price pass unless he was willing to show identification, I'm assuming, which at this point is unable to do.
It takes about 31 cans to make a pound and recycling rates on cans haven't kept pace with inflation- averaging 1 to 2 cents per can. (Rates recently fell to a low from 70 cents a pound in 2008 to 25 cents in some places. Prices fell after a lot of recycling centers opened in the 1990s.) Aluminum scrap prices were actually relatively high in the early 1980s.
New York had a bottle bill since 1982 giving 5 cents per bottle that is redeemed. Of course, no telling if Metropolis had a similar bill, and even if it did, Charlie probably didn't Clark to have to lug around that much weight in bottles walking across town.
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 9,509 |
Originally posted by ShayneT:
Clark wouldn't be eligible for a reduced price pass unless he was willing to show identification, I'm assuming, which at this point is unable to do. Being that Clark is under 16 at this point, he wouldn't have an ID to show anyway. Many people who live in big cities (such as NYC) don't get their driver's license as early as we do out in the sticks, because they don't have a reason to ever drive with public transportation so good. I know several New Yorkers who didn't get their driver's license until they were past their mid-twenties (if ever). All Clark would have to say is that he's still a student and doesn't have ID. I'm not even sure if all high schools issue student ID cards. Since Clark is 15, he might not even be in high school yet. $30 for a weekly bus pass?  That's expensive! In my small town it's $20 for a month for adults, $10 for kids. Then again the fare is still under $1, too. /Yes, it's still very Norman Rockwellian around here./ Interesting what you say about recycling. I would have guessed it would've been much less back then.
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Joined: Jun 2013
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Jun 2013
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Originally posted by ShayneT:
New York had a bottle bill since 1982 giving 5 cents per bottle that is redeemed. Of course, no telling if Metropolis had a similar bill, and even if it did, Charlie probably didn't Clark to have to lug around that much weight in bottles walking across town. If Metropolis is based on New York, then it probably would have such a bill. Several states currently have a law where 5 cents is tacked onto the price of a drink in a plastic bottle in order to encourage people to turn it in for recycling and get their 5 cents back. I don't know if any such law existed in the early 80's, though. (For that matter, I can't remember if plastic drink bottles were around in the early 80's, other than the gallon jugs of milk and juice.)
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Posts: 3,800 Likes: 30
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 3,800 Likes: 30 |
In the late 60's I used to return glass soda bottles. The deposit I believe was five cents.
Morgana
A writer's job is to think of new plots and create characters who stay with you long after the final page has been read. If that mission is accomplished than we have done what we set out to do, which is to entertain and hopefully educate.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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I like Brother Wayman - it's hard to find people who actually live their faith and don't just talk it. Being kind to others didn’t cost much, and if it brought goodness to their lives, it was worth the effort. A very Superman-ly thing to think, and a lesson for us all. “Our Jewish brothers like to say that whoever saves a life, it’s like they’ve saved a whole world. It always surprises me how easy it is to save a life. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, a pat on the back, a willingness to listen when someone is in their darkest moment.” More words of wisdom here.
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