Tulelake, CA— Productive time away
Arriving back home to sleep in my own bed was a great blessing. The trip to Sacramento was very productive in many ways and a very unfortunate loss in another way. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed compared to where I was sleeping while on my legal business trip to Sacramento.
I lost my cell phone the last night before I was to return home to Tulelake, CA. I prayed to God to help me find it. But he never answered that prayer. The phone was in my top pocket as I scaled the wall I had to climb over in-order to get to the sleeping spot I had picked out. As I jumped down onto the other side from the wall, my cell phone flung out of my pocket and that was the last time I saw it.
I got down on my hands and knees and felt over all the leaves where the phone could have easily slipped under or landed to never be found again, until it degenerates. As there is not a whole lot of traffic that would be in that area, not saying that there is not a lot of traffic and the sound of traffic in the area. Which, could be enough to keep a person awake and could be deafening with how loud it is as it travels by below the area where I was sleeping.
All and all I never found it, oh well; I guess it was meant to be. Why, I don’t know, but what ever. God has his reasons; I just don’t understand that one. Unless, I was being punished for some reason or another from the night before and that night I lost the cell phone.
There was a man I met in front of the Amtrak Station in Sacramento that had been kicked out of his apartment or house by his son. Where the man claimed he paid his son $1,400.00 a month to stay there. He was in need of making a phone call to his wife to let her know the situation to try and figure out where he was going to go. He claimed everyone hated him and nobody was on his side.
I had no money or food and I did not look like a homeless person in my way of being dressed, and the stuff I was carrying around with me. My cloths in a big red suitcase with wheels, my black brief case with all my legal papers for the federal court house on top of the suitcase by the resting on the handle and my new lap top that I was still learning or teaching myself how to use it. I carried it in my other hand like a book.
In fact, there was one night when I was over in Old Sacramento that this guy asked me if I had any spare change. I stopped and asked, “Do I look like some body with money?” His reply, “Well yes” or “You look like a tourist.” Humm? Well, that is important to know, but when you are flat broke and hungry it does not help you to get any help that you may need. Such as food and money, even cigarettes were hard to come by being dressed as I was at the time. Most of the time the answer was the same, “This is my last one” or “This is the only one I have.”
I loaned my phone to the man to make his phone call after he offered me money to do it. He didn’t say how much when I used it to to call after I dialed the number for him and it began to ring. I handed the phone to him. He spoke to his wife and could not figure out why everyone did not like him. I could tell him that answer in a second, but he did not want to listen to me, as it was everyone else’s fault, but his own as to why he was in this situation in the first place. He had an attitude problem and if I noticed I am sure others did to the way he treated them by the way he treated someone trying to help him
The next evening I ran into him again and it looked like he was still having no luck with his situation At least this time he did not reek with the smell of alcohol as he had the night before. But his attitude had not changed any from the night before, he had the same negative attitude. It looked like he was even lower on his money situation now. He noticed me and I noticed him about the same time on the corner by the Starbucks coffee shop by the Amtrak station in downtown Sacramento. He needed to use my phone again, so I put him in a position of having to pay me so I could get something to eat again as I had no such luck, nor did I try and ask people for any spare change or money for anything.
He made his phone call and was going to try and get me something to eat. We were now back in the Amtrak station where they have vending machines and the only thing I could see that I might be able to eat or drink was the milk and it was a $1.25 and as he put the dollar in my hand and reached in his pocket for a quarter. I asked him, “Is this all you have?” He looked at me with a strange look on his face and walked away. I did not mean it the way it sounded. I meant if this was all he had I did not want to take the last of his money that is what I meant. I still would have gone hungry but he left and I bought a carton of chocolate milk, as it was far better than nothing at the moment. I did not see him again before I left and was picked up yesterday afternoon.
I have been thinking maybe God was just punishing me for not just letting the man make phone calls without me charging him for them. So God took my cell phone away to teach me a lesson to wait on him. But I was hungry and needed to figure out a way to get something to eat without asking people for change or walking the distance to Loaves and Fishes to get something to eat a few miles from downtown Sacramento.
I don’t know why God could not have helped me to find my cell phone, knowing it was right there some where in the leaves but I just could not see it. I even tried to call the number on my Trek Fone, and good thing I had at least 3 and half minutes left on it and 135 days before the service expires. I called and left a message with the people that were supposed to pick me up on their way back from home the place they went. Then, I tried to call the cell phone but with all the traffic going down the freeway I could not hear or see it light up when I called the number.
Now I had just enough time left on the Trek Fone to make the call in the afternoon in case they did not receive or picked up the message I left for them before. I was lucky when I met another person, Richard at the showers when I was at the Loaves and Fishes on Friday to eat breakfast and take a shower, then eat lunch. I met Richard and his friend while I was waiting outside to have my name to be called for a shower. (I will write more about Loaves and Fishes on another post.)
So I made the phone call using Richard’s Cell phone from the Library 4th floor as I came back up after starting to web cam blog the car show below on front side of the Downtown Sacramento Library. Where there was a car show going on and they were raffling off things. Where I was also allowed to leave my suitcase and brief case so I could freely walk around with the web cam to record the car show. The DJ running the program let me leave my stuff there so it would free me up to do and concentrate on the web cam blog of the car show.
I guess God did not answer, like I said before because he was trying to teach me a lesson to wait on him or do it myself when it came to getting something to eat. Just like when I talked to my friends that were picking me up I asked them to get me something to eat and I would pay them back later after pay day next month. As luck would have it they were serving lunch to the homeless in the park across the street from the library so I got in line and ate. Then I went back up to the 4th floor looking for Richard to let him know about the free food in the park but he had left and I even checked all the other floors to see if I could fine him before I went back to the car show down below.
I really don’t know, but I do not see why God could not have helped me to find the cell phone and why it was more or less taken away until I can get a new one at the beginning of next month. I don't get it. Time will tell what the purpose or reason was for me losing it in the first place, as they say, “Things happen for a reason”, I guessing, we will see!
Written by James Garland of Tulelake News
PO Box 772
Tulelake, CA 96134-0772
Home Phone (530) 667-4744
Cell # (530) 708-7852
Comments
Post a Comment