I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir, but it just never comes together for me, but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood and into adulthood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe, I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order; I'll just write them as they come to me.
Marshal Claffey
When I was 18 years old, I was living with my mom, her boyfriend Roger and my brother. I was walking to the store down the street and saw a "Now Hiring" sign in the window of the laundromat, so I went in and asked about the job. She hired me on the spot. After a week of training, I was left alone in the laundromat to clean the washers and dryers, give change for the machines, and take any dry cleaning that came in. It was a pretty easy job.
A few months later, a homeless guy named Marshal came in and asked if I could keep an ear out on the pay phone that was right outside my shop. I said yes because he said his sister was going to call and he wanted me to get her phone number so he could call her back. I did that and thought that would be the end of it.
He started coming around a lot and just talking to me, sometimes he brought in a couple of shirts to wash in the machine. He never dried them though. I found out that he lived in the overgrown desert lot right across the street from the laundromat I worked at. He had dug a huge hole in the ground out there, shored up the sides with wood and put 2x4 wood slats across the top. He covered the wood slats with a tarp and a large rug and some broken branches. He had a step ladder down inside the hole so he could get in and out of it.
After talking for a few weeks, he asked me if I wanted to come see his hole (in the desert) and I stupidly said yes. *You live and learn I guess* So after work I went over to the desert with him, and he took me over to a campout/bbq that a bunch of homeless people were sitting around. They had scored a bunch of McDonald's hamburgers in the trash can behind the McDonald's and were unwrapping them and putting them on the BBQ grill they made. I ate one, because, *When in Rome* smh
The other homeless people talked to me and told me what they did to get by and digging through the trash bins of the fast food places was how they ate because these places throw away a lot of food. One couple even had a toddler out there with them and they had been homeless for over a year. Some of them had holes in the desert, some didn't.
I can't believe I'm going to say this but Marshal and I started dating and a few weeks later, I let him move in with me in my trailer. My mom agreed since her boyfriend Roger had also been homeless when she met him because he was schizophrenic. Roger and my mom stayed together for years until he had a heart attack and passed away. She got him on medication and he did really well for a while.
Things were going good until I found out that Marshal got high by huffing paint and paint thinner. Huffing is when you spray the paint into a bottle or paper towel and then breathe in the fumes. It gets you high. I told him that I didn't want him doing that around me and we had a fight Halloween day. I went off to work, and he came in later that night dressed as a clown and high as hell after huffing paint. It was dripping down his face and his clown face paint was all messed up because of it.
I told him if he didn't leave, I was going to call the police, and he just went crazy and started hitting me. I ended up having bruises all over my arms and neck, a black eye, a concussion, bruised nose and broken rib. He ran out and the 3 people who were at the other end of the laundromat came running up to me. I called the police, pressed charges and they went out in the desert and found him near his hole in the desert. He got 30 days in jail.
He tried to apologize but I wasn't having it and we broke up. I woke up screaming at night from nightmares for almost a year after that. Roger, my mom's schizophrenic boyfriend walked me to and from work everyday for a week and even stayed in the laundromat with me during the day, the man was really good to me and my mom.
I found out that Marshal beat up his next girlfriend too, but her brothers beat him so badly that he ended up in the ICU for over a month. Karma?
I found out years later that he got high, went into a bank and tried to rob it while 2 police officers were sitting in a car right outside. He was arrested and died in prison a few years later. The police report I found online years ago said they found him dead in his cell. I have no idea what happened to him.
Links to past stories
2023
2024
An interesting story Mary. You tried with him and gave him somewhere to live yet he couldn't let go of getting high. Some people are like that I guess.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling a bit better too. Hugs
Thank goodness for Roger who took care of you. It shows that not all homeless men are violent - just like not all apparently "normal" or "well-adjusted" ones are good.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're only a teenager and you have not really anything to guide you, that is when you're most apt to do things that turn out badly. Horrible that you got beat up. It was wonderful that Roger was capable of walking you to work and staying with you after all that happened. And yes I do believe that what goes around comes around so Marshall got his due.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve led an unusual ‘to me’ life.
ReplyDeleteYou have a kind heart and that sometimes leads to unwise decisions. It was good of Roger to look after you.
ReplyDeleteOh the memories you have, Mary. Yes, we live and learn, Karma got him.
ReplyDeleteIts nice to read an honest story like this.
ReplyDeleteI think most of us have made bad decisions as a teenager. I'm glad that Roger was there for you!
ReplyDeleteDV can happen even in supposedly ideal relationships. This was not your fault! I am glad it wasn’t worse and you didn’t let him back into your life 💕
ReplyDeleteI think it speaks to how open and generous you were willing to be and he's the one who messed that up with his addiction and violence. I'm sorry you were abused by him
ReplyDeleteOh Mary so sorry about this.
ReplyDeleteThat was quite the story and I'm glad all ended well for you.
ReplyDelete