Louisville Magazine

DEC 2014

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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52 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.14 Following the clearing came days of debris removal. Ten the signs: No Trespassing. Camp 211 fimsy "No Public Parking" sign jacked from a lamppost balances on some branches. On another tree, a couple sets of gloves cover limbs. Tree hands. A rake leans against a tree's small trunk. It's a never-ending cycle out here. Te leaves fall, you rake 'em. Te leaves fall, you rake 'em. Since it's been wet, the campers leave the leaves to cover the mud. Te yellow, orange and brown hues add to the collection of October on the ground. Most of the items — tents, tarps, sleeping bags, chairs, mugs, silverware, coolers, an old grill — are donations or were found. Donations are how the homeless sustain themselves. Te tents and tarps blend with nature. Tey're camoufage: dark green, tan. It's a form of protection. It's Larry's turn to shufe. He accidentally deals everybody six cards instead of seven. Earlier they played Rummy. Now it's Kings Corners. Te game is like Solitaire, with people. Larry deals in Brandy, Younger Matt, Older Matt and Nate. Curtis sits back, a little outside the circle. Everybody has beer. Te guys drink 24-ounce cans of Milwaukee's Best Ice and Brandy has a Steel Reserve "Blk Berry." Tere's more beer in a bag by Younger Matt's feet. It's a long walk to the BP at South Hancock Street and Broadway — the homeless gas station, as Brandy calls it, because that's where she says all the hobos hang. Best to have extra. Tough sometimes it's not enough. Tis is the typical scenario in this camp. Drinks. Cards. Tis round ends when Older Matt puts down his last card. "He's out!" Brandy says. "He didn't fnish playing the hand," Larry says. "I don't have to do that! I'm out!" Older Matt says. "If you've still got a play on the table, you've got to fnish the card, OK?" Larry says. "I've never heard that one before," Older Matt says. "He's cheating. Lord, he's cheating," Larry says with a chuckle. Nate says something, but he speaks so quietly that the others can't hear him over the hand-held radio tuned to rock. Tey all give Nate a hard time about this by dramatically moving their mouths without saying words. He says he talks low because he has sensitive hearing, with all sounds intensifed: himself, the conversation, radio, a squirrel, plane overhead, the constant city whir not too far away. "I've got to take a piss. May I use your walls?" Younger Matt asks nobody in particular. It's a joke among them, because: What walls? Te closest thing to a wall is the tall hill with an old train track running across the top. It separates them from the gagging stink of nearby Tasman Industries' cattle-hide-processing buildings. As for the pissing, that happens anywhere. "Go wherever you feel froggy," Curtis says. Stay away from the tents. Younger Matt jokes that Brandy's "pee trail" of used toilet paper looks like Halloween decorations. Te oversized hoodie she wears is neon-orange, and again Younger Matt jokes Halloween. Fitting, because the holiday is only a couple of weeks away. Tey've got a pumpkin not yet carved. Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" comes on the radio and Older Matt lip-syncs to himself, Nate at Camp 211 sits on "the porch," where the campers sometimes congregate. A

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