N5 THIRD WORLD CONDO

I. LITTLE INDIA

On Saturday, May 14, 2016 the police are called to the residence where he has lived for a year and two months. The neighbors are Redundo and Abnormal and they are buying the house of Montezuma. Most likely, Redundo is driving a bad deal by taking advantage of the senility of Montezuma’s Dad.

Redundo, Abnormal, and Abnormal Junior buy houses to rent while remaining oblivious to the laws. This becomes obvious by their attempt to evict him from squalor. Their misguided zeal begins with threats and bluster. The last threat is to call the cops and he selects that option.

The police arrive and his insolence is proclaimed by both families. The police photograph where he has lived this past year. It is a dirty toolshed with little light, no running water, no bathroom, no stove, no refrigerator, no AC, no heat, and faulty electrical wiring. He sleeps on a concrete floor because there is no bed or room for a bed. Containers of algae and water litter the yard and this fosters an abundance of mosquitos. The officer asks him where he puts his clothes and he points to the dilapidated truck behind the shed. The officer enters the tool shed and his expression appears frozen in disbelief. There is little room, it is dirty, and animals are here and there. He turns to the two families and states that he is calling Adult Protective Services because the place is not fit to live in. It never registers with the families that they are the ones being condemned. One year, two months, in this palace, and rent was paid for about three or four months. 

II. THE SICK AND THE DEAD

A few months ago, he was found on the floor of a Laundromat suffering from food poisoning. There is no refrigerator and he had eaten a burrito that had been out for too long. He was taken to the emergency room, treated, and released. There was no money for the prescription. He walked one and a half miles home from the hospital and went to bed. During the night, he walked down the road to a local business in order to use the bathroom. One year, two months, and he has never used Montezuma’s toilet. It was simply too filthy.  

Getting sick while living in the tool shed means that one is ignored and left to his own devices. There have been numerous occasions in which he could not get his medicine. One becomes overlooked among the debris and machinery if they faint in the backyard.

There was one occasion in which one of Montezuma’s cats was dying. There were tumors, open wounds, and labored breathing. The cat had been in the family for many years. The matter twas brought to Montezuma’s attention and he replied that the cat would die soon. He insisted that killing the cat was the merciful thing to do. Montezuma got a pistol and they took the cat into the woods. He owned two towels and the dead cat was wrapped in one of them. Montezuma asked why he was going to waste a good towel on the cat. He replied that it was once a living creature and he wept as the cat was buried. He thought of that cat whenever he was sick and realized that he shared the cat’s tier of importance within this environment. Abandoned among indifference and then forgotten. 

III. INDIFFERENCE GASPING

Indifference is an expanse formed by drifting smoke among a pocked and jagged area of random influence. Last October, he had gone to a ministry because the bridge in his mouth had fallen out and dental glue was needed for its repair. The person that he talked to was honest about his inability to listen. Months pass and consuming hot and cold drinks require different techniques. Ignoring the dental glue eventually became a greater problem. Indifference allows the flourish of evil. In fever, then relentless, asymptomatic, stricken, and the simile remains held: the culture of Anderson County.

THIRD WORLD CONDO   +   NATIVES 5   +   LEAGUE OF DREAD

by SLOAN SAMOAN