My Story 3: Under the Tree

I think our life in Calgary must have gotten to my mom somehow, because we left for BC when I was around 10. I remember that just before we left, my sister and I were in the custody of the courts. We had been found drinking, and mom was nowhere nearby, so they placed us in a temporary home for a few days. I don't remember much about it, it was just a generic situation with "parent-like" objects who rushed you through the tasks of your day when they weren't ignoring you.

I suspect that my mom was under investigation around this time, because we packed and left for the BC interior in a jiffy. I think my mother might have sent our belongings ahead of us, because we ended up hitchhiking with a tent and a few sleeping bags. Yes, that's right-- my mom was hitchhiking through BC with two kids. We landed in Kelowna BC late one night, it might have been midnight or something. I was carrying two sleeping bags, and my mother and sister were carrying the tent and backpack. We were walking through a residential area, and I was struggling to keep up with them, being tired and weak from travelling. My mother was in one of those intolerant moods, and she was power-walking ahead of me with my sister. I lost them somehow. It still puzzles me to this day: did she intentional try to ditch me, or was she so oblivious that she lost track of me?

Regardless, I was alone in a strange town, with a couple of sleeping bags. I knew that my mother and sister would have to go downtown to hitchhike out of Kelowna-- I remember them talking about it-- so I found a major road that looked right, and stuck my thumb out. A small pickup screeched to a halt, and the guy behind the wheel asked me where on earth I was going at 1:00 in the morning. I had to ask him which way led to the downtown area, because I simply didn't know. He said he was going to take me to the police station instead, and I was suddenly very afraid. A few minutes down the road we hit a red light, and I made my move. Grabbing my stuff, I jumped out of the truck, saying "thanks for the ride!" and headed for the nearest side street.

He didn't follow me, or disagree with me, or anything. Somehow, I figured out which way led to town, and continued on my way. I arrived downtown, and wandered around for a bit, exhausted from my journey. I found a large conifer tree with really large lower branches, it might have been a spruce. I knew from previous experience that I would be able to sleep under it without being seen, while still being able to see outside of it. Conifers with low hanging branches are perfect sleeping spots for urban campers because of this fact, and also because the ground beneath them is a soft bed of needles.

What I didn't realize, being 10, is that if you light a small fire of kindling under the branches, you will be visible. So I was quite surprised when a security guard lifted back one of the branches and said "What are you doing under there?" I don't remember what I said, but it was something like "I'm just waiting for my mother." Much to my relief, he told me that I would have to put the fire out, and left.

I don't know about you, but the image of a ten-year-old sleeping under a tree with a pathetic little fire is a heartbreaker. I don't understand to this day why that security guard didn't take some action right there. Maybe I was convincing in my lies, or maybe he thought I was a local runaway who would return to my suburban home tommorrow once I got hungry. In any case, I slept there that night, and woke up to find myself on the lawn of city hall! I left the sleeping bags stashed there and proceeded to a large downtown park, on the shore of Lake Okanagan. I met some teenaged girls, and ended up talking to them, because one of them said I looked like her little brother. I somehow in that conversation convinced them that I needed a few dollars, because they gave me a five dollar bill at the end of it. I went to a little restaurant and got a nice steak burger for lunch.

I eventually met up with my family, because Kelowna was really small, and I knew if I hung around town, they would come looking for me. I think my earlier experiences with street life really helped me muster the strength to leave home at 15. It would be an interesting study to see if other street teens have any early experiences of homelessness like mine. Somehow, it seemed really natural to sleep under a tree at the time, though I look now and wonder where I had gotten the courage to hold it together that night.