Milton

Milton had $67.85 in his wallet. The credit cards had long ago dried up. He'd been living on cash for six weeks, counting time until he lost his basement studio apartment in the Tenderloin. Even with the porn shop's neon sign glaring in his only window every night until 3 a.m., it cost him $750 every month. Why wouldn't anyone buy his watercolors? They were good, or at least Darlene had told him so.

Darlene had given him an extra week to scrounge up the $800, but she couldn't afford to rent the basement for free either. Tips from waitressing at the Home restaurant on Market Street had pretty much dried up. Ever since the Great Recession began a year ago, they couldn't earn any money. So finally she'd plodded down the stairs to the basement and told him he'd have to go, she didn't have any choice but to let the new tenant move in.

He loaded up his shit brown Taurus with what he could take. A few clothes, here and there. Not much, just a lot of denim, black socks, tennis shoes, a few wool scarves, caps, and his leopard lampshade hat. He loved it; he'd taken it after his mother had died fourteen years ago. He had to fight his younger brothers for it. They lived in Modesto. And then there was Dudley -- his sixteen year old wiener dog. Okay, dachshund, but he liked calling Dudley a wiener dog. Dudley had a heart murmur and arthritis in his back. It'd be a hard trip for him.

He left at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, just after the neon signs went out. He didn't want to say goodbye to Darlene. She'd been too good to him and he didn't know what to say, didn't know how to say goodbye. He drove through the night into the morning and stopped in the early afternoon. He had to get gas -- Winnemucca was the stop. He paid $39.80 to fill the tank. His mouth was bone dry. He had to have something to drink. Bought a bottle of water for $2.19. That left $25.86 in his pockets. He wouldn't get very far with that. Next town was 250 miles. Guess this is where he hit the wall, Winnemucca, Nevada. Maybe he could get a job as a janitor in a whore house.