STRANDED IN SKIN AND BONES

Cadillac Man was once a warehouse supervisor at the Pepsi Bottling Company. Not anymore. He lost his job. He started drinking. His wife kicked him out after he pretended to be searching for employment. He admits, “It was my fault.”

He had nowhere to go. He found a nook out in front of St. Bartholomew’s in NYC and that's where he spent the first night, and the next night, and the next night. Occasionally in those first days, he’d find a parked tractor-trailer and sleep under it.

His sister found him and said, “There you are.” He got all emotional when his brother offered his couch that night. The next day, while out canning, his sister found him and said, “You got lice. His two kids got lice.”

So he couldn’t go back. Several weeks later, he bumped into her again and she said, “Oh I’m sorry. It was somebody at school that gave the kids the lice. So you can come back.”

He didn’t. He’s been homeless since 1994. He’s lived homeless in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens. He writes everyday. Has filled up eight spiral notebooks. He made friends with a neighbor in his area. Turns out the neighbor works for Esquire magazine. He read some of Cadillac Man’s stuff. Liked it. Published it in the May 2005 issue. You should read it. I read about it in a newspaper article. (No, I don’t subscribe to Esquire. Sorry, or I’d let you borrow my copy.)

As I was saying, he writes everyday. Plenty of stories of street life to write down. There’s a guy named Eddie. Eddie doesn’t have to be homeless, but has chosen this life. He has a mother who worries about him. Cadillac Man met his mother after Eddie was stomped by gangbangers. Cadillac Man saw Eddie staggering through the park.

Cadillac Man writes, “Face like a crushed tomato, clothes torn and pockets turned inside out, he refused to go to the hospital and told me his mother's address. Couldn't walk so I picked him up and put him in my war wagon. Carried him up one flight of stairs and when the mother came out I thought at first she was going to have a heart attack. She thanked me and offered a cup of coffee so I stayed.”

Eddie came running up to Cadillac Man one day with a $8,000 check in his hand. Said he was on his way to cash it. Was all happy and everything. Cadillac Man congratulated him. Then he started thinking about all the people who would steal Eddie’s money. He went looking for Eddie. Found him in the park throwing a block party, waving his cash like a kid on Wall Street. Cadillac knew what he had to do if Eddie was going to keep his money. He broke up the party and loaded Eddie in the war wagon.

A guy named Big Mouth objected. He accused Cadillac Man of stealing Eddie so he could rob Eddie. He got in Caddy’s face. Got closer. Caddy said he wanted to show Big Mouth a little trick.

“Stepping closer. I will show you a little trick, watch what happens to the bottle when I drop it from chest high. Now watch very carefully and be amazed, releasing the bottle. He followed the descent, watching it break up, and waited for something else to happen. Something did. My fist in his face. Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Big Mouth moaned on the ground as Cadillac Man pushed Eddie home in his war wagon. But this time Eddie has a load in his pants. Cadillac Man says, “Oh, well, at least he’s still breathing and don’t light a stick whatever you do.”

Eddie’s mother is old and feeble. So once again Cadillac Man hauls Eddie up the flight of steps. Carries him to the bathroom and stands him against the wall. The smell of him. The load in his pants.

Cadillac said, “I will stand here as you take off his clothes ma’am.”

“That won't be necessary Cadillac, I have done this many times before and take your clothes off too.”

I was shocked. Ma'am?

“I see that Edward got sick on you and after I am through with him, you can wash up.”

"But ma'am I don’t have any underwear on."

“Oh! Here take this towel and don’t worry, I won’t peek.”

Cadillac was thinking, Can't win this argument and the thought of taking a shower I can't refuse, the clothes come off.

“Wait in the living room or kitchen. There is instant coffee in the cupboard above the sink, help yourself.”

He writes, "Didn't have to tell me twice. Made a beeline for the kitchen. While I was waiting for the water to boil, decided to look out the window and check on my wagon. Secured to a pole. I worry about my flags, a group of kids nearby, and if they grab them, I can't do anything to stop it. I can't yell at them, they would look up and see a half-naked, hairy-faced man and probably run to their parents. Sheesh! Oh well, water is ready and my taste buds are in overdrive awaiting that first sip of coffee. Ahhh!"


I guess what shocks us about Cadillac Man is the humanity in his heart where we don’t think humanity exists. The homeless aren’t supposed to care for each other like this. (So says those of us who have never been homeless.)

We like Cadillac Man because he cares when he doesn’t have to care. He reveals an underside of humanity we think doesn’t exist. And one of the things that shocked people about Christ was the way He showed mercy where there was supposed to be no mercy.

He offers it to people who don’t have a smidgen of an idea of what it means to serve Him. Think of Rahab, the harlot, mentioned for her great faith in Hebrews 11. Think of the tax collector that would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast while saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And God was merciful. Jesus said the man went away justified more than the Pharisee, the religious leader of the day (Luke 18:140).

Think of the prodigal son who went out and spent his inheritance on wild living, only to come home to a forgiveness party, where his father killed the fatted calf and hired the local bar band to play into the wee hours of the morning. What kind of God is this? The kind of God that loves every inch of Cadillac Man.

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Something New. Read one of Robert's novels in progress. It's a sweet and tender love story that appeals to the romantic in all of us. Click the link: http://ablogofregrets.blogspot.com/

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