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//--> SinCerity's Children 5/5
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I don’t really notice Rae until I see the cane. By the time I get out, she is tapping her way down the driveway. I gently cup her elbow as Rae maneuvers the curb and backdoor. Its Stacy's name, her daughter, who called the car. "They were supposed to pick me up, but I couldn’t wait. I have to get my errands done." The destination is Sparkle Nails.
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I run a maze of left rights to get to Edmund's apartment inside the complex. On the road, we talk of the Korean War and how no one remembers, before Ina from Bulgaria gets in. "During the war, I traveled all over -- Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria... they always had the most beautiful women," Edmund offers in a voice much younger than his years.
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She turns around to look at him. "You’re 85!! My grandfather is younger than you and looks twice your age... but life in Bulgaria is very tough. Here in Vegas, we get to relax, go to buffets all day." Laughs. I drop Edmund at the neurology lab on Flamingo and Ina down the street at the BG Grill, famous among Bulgarian truck drivers. Her shift hasn't begun, so she veers toward the Smoke Shop.
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Jess is headed to work. Sitting in the front seat, we talk transportation, weather, housing and homelessness. Another ride joins us at a stop. She has on headphones, so Jess and I continue. “My neighborhood doesn’t look like Vegas, it reminds me more of my flavela back home.” She smiles. Her office is among the downtown homeless. She was homeless too, for months, she and her daughter.
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At least they had a car to sleep in, and a pre-purchased gym membership. She would shower and wash clothes at the same time. Could go to the bathroom while she looked for a job. Before everything fell apart, before she let go of everything, all of her things – except a cell phone -- her mom’s requirement, a lifeline. Jess counsels her ex- to do the same, a vet with PTSD still on the street.
