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After several days of tepid showers, I was unable to stand beneath the water in the showers this morning. The steaming hot water burnt to the touch, so I was forced to first hold a wash cloth under the water, wait for it to cool down and then finally apply it to my body. My search for the "goldilocks shower" continues. After I finished my shower, I proceeded to the sink area to brush my teeth. Today, once again, I experienced one of the oddest things about life at Bedford-Atlantic. For whatever reason, very often both of the taps on every sink produce hot water. I am not talking about warm tap water, but hot water just as scalding as that which I found in the shower. The only way, it seems, to get any cool water is to be the first person to use a particular sink in the morning and to get whatever cool water is still in the pipes.
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Bedford-Atlantic is what is called an "assessment" shelter. What that means is that people entering the shelter system are sent to the shelter so that their needs can be assessed. Once the assessment process is complete, they are supposed to be transferred to "permanent" shelters that are supposed to be equipped to address any special needs that the client might have. For example, there are shelters that house people who have jobs and other shelters for folks who have substance abuse problems or mental health issues. The assessment process is quite simple. The client is required to have a TB test, can opt to have an HIV test, must have a cursory physical examination (vital statistics, urinalysis and a blood draw), and must have a cursory psychiatric evaluation (ten minutes answering questions posed by a psychiatrist who takes clients at their word).
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It is very common at Bedford-Atlantic for men to walk around from dormitory to dormitory trying to sell a variety of goods to the other residents. Normally, the range of merchandise on offer ranges from cigarettes to clothes and shoes. Occasionally, somebody also has DVDs (almost exclusively of the XXX variety) or cheap consumer electronics for sale. With the exception of the cigarettes, these goods are usually offered at a steep discount to the market value, making one wonder where or how the seller obtained the merchandise.
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It was hot last night. Unlike many people, hot weather does not bother me. In fact, I quite enjoy it. I find sleeping on a hot, humid night to be quite enjoyable. Therefore, when I went to bed last night, I was looking forward to several hours of fitful slumber, even as others were griping about the oppressive heat and the lack of fans in the dormitories (there is actually one small wall fan in my dormitory, but it was not turned on and nobody could find a switch for it). Unfortunately, however, my peaceful slumber was cut rudely short by what can only be described by shocking behavior by the man occupying the bed across from mine.
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When I woke up this morning, my t-shirt was damp from last night's heat, so I decided to take it off. I took out a fresh t-shirt but decided not to put it on until after I had a shower as my body was sweaty. I gathered my shower things together and headed downstairs. As I entered the main floor to go to the back of the building where the showers are, I received my first shout of the day: "Sir," a policewoman bellowed in such a manner as to make the honorific sound like a curse. "You're gonna have to go back upstairs and put a shirt on. You can't go around like that!"
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