street roots
9
May 25, 2012
ABUSE, from page 8
throughout downtown, Richard sure to keep
Brandy by his side. During the day the pair
visited drop-in centers; during the evening
ends meet, Richard smashed car windows
the couple searched out warm, dry spaces.
and stole cigarettes and change. He
Part of what vexed them was the inability to
convinced Brandy to panhandle. She hated it.
stay together as a couple, since shelters
Together, they pooled their resources and
separated men and women. Then someone
injected meth, riding the rush, pulled by
suggested Tent City 3.
addiction.
A legally-sanctioned homeless encampment
Like any couple that spends time together,
for up to 100 people, it shifted locations
the pair forged a bond of intimacy. Richard
every few months. In January 2009, Tent City
told Brandy he wanted to leave his white
3 was in Shoreline. The pair hopped on the
supremacist past behind, even as he carried a 358 bus and rode north, Richard thankful the
handwritten copy of “The Havamal.” In the
dangerous city lay behind them.
unheated house or out on the streets, they
Oftentimes, area churches, honoring
talked of a future together, maybe one with
Christian tenets to care for the poor and the
kids. Christmas
hungry, hosted Tent
came, then New
City 3. Brandy and
Year’s passed. Happy
Richard bused to
2009.
Calvin Presbyterian
Not long into
Church. Set on a tract
January, when Mr.
Richard lay still In the
of land that hugged
Unheated House
sleeping bag. Scoot over,
the corner of
started acting like a
Northwest Richmond
Brandy yelled, pushing him
pervert, Richard and
Beach Road and Third
with her loot, "That's when
Brandy shoved their
Avenue Northwest,
clothes into their
he freaked ©nt/' Brandy
the church was a
backpacks and split.
sprawling house of
remembers, Richard stood,
With two borrowed
worship. Just south of
caging her In his arms. She
sleeping bags they
the sanctuary rose a
trudged to the
resisted, Bonyt loach me, she hill, mostly flat, its
greenbelt near the
yelled, Richard grabbed her crest a large square of
Boise River, close to
frozen, grassy earth. A
hy the throat. He threw her
where they’d first
chainlink fence ran
kissed. Richard
down. Brandy slapped him,
along the southern
guided Brandy to a
He punched her In the head. edge. From the
spot under a bridge.
hilltop’s mesa rose a
They inchwormed
motley crew of tents,
inside their sleeping
some draped with
bags. The
tarps, others exposed.
temperature dropped.
The pair approached.
Wind blew. Snow fell; by morning, three
Everyone who entered or left Tent City 3
inches covered the ground.
had to pass a welcome desk. Brandy and
The next night, with a low in the 20s,
Richard asked about space. The encampment
Richard led Brandy to a multistory garage. In
had room for couples, but it also had rules.
a stairwell, they huddled together. He gave
No drinking or drugs. No violence. Everyone
Brandy his coat, but it barely helped. He held pitched in. A 24-hour security patrol dealt
her close as she shivered all night.
with any problems. Even with addiction
Then Brandy cried uncle. They needed
issu e s, th e couple a g re ed to abide, sp en d in g
another solution, somewhere warm. The
their first night stuffed into a one-man tent.
couple ran into another guy. “And he let us
They tried to settle in.
But Brandy couldn’t really settle into her
stay in his motel room,” Brandy says. Unlike
relationship with Richard because, truthfully,
the old guy, Mr. Motel didn’t want anything,
things had gotten a little weird. When the
except company. But Brandy didn’t intend to
couple sneaked beer and malt beverages into
stay.
their tent, sometimes a little argument would
Back in Seattle, Brandy had been accepted
into a Washington state program called GA-U, flare up. Was she messing around with other
guys? Was he looking at other girls? Once,
Government Assistance-Unemployable, that
Richard punched her. Another time, he
provided her $339 each month. She planned
kicked her. Of course, she didn’t show her
to use her January payment to buy bus
best side when she drank or used meth. And
tickets to Seattle for herself and Richard.
yes, she yelled, too. But no one had ever
In Richard’s mind, they were a couple - a
struck her before. “It wasn’t enough to make
family — and he worried she might back out
me think I should do anything about it,” she
of the relationship. So he agreed. He’d move
says. So she kept quiet.
to Seattle.
Sometimes when she tried to meet fellow
When the GA-U funds hit her account, the
pair packed up and headed to the bus station. Tent City 3 residents, Richard would
interrupt, pulling her away. He told her it
Once again, Brandy sat on a Greyhound, this
was to protect her. “But it started to feel
time bound for Seattle, with a boyfriend who
isolating,” Brandy recalls. The sense of
she realized she didn’t really know. But he d
isolation grew when it came to her good
told her he’d protect her. He wanted to
friend from Pocatello, Morgan Price. In
change his life, like she did. It seemed easier
January 2009, she lived in Shoreline, less
to do it together. Besides, Brandy figured,
than five miles from Tent City 3.
what was the worst that could happen?
Morgan had come to the Seattle area in
August 2008 seeking sobriety, and she had
Emerald City
triumphed - until Christmas Day, when she
rom the moment he arrived in January
celebrated the holidays with wine. After
2009, Richard thought Seattle was the
Brandy contacted her, Morgan sneaked beer
into Tent City 3 to welcome Brandy back to
worst place in the world.
He followed Brandy from the Greyhound
Washington. Brandy unzipped the yellow
station at 811 Stewart St. on to Third
tent, and Morgan entered.
When Morgan saw Richard for the first
Avenue. As they trudged into downtown
Seattle, a city three times the size of Boise,
time, she thought: He is not a good
Richard stared. Homeless people, drunk
character. She couldn’t explain it, exactly. “I
just had a really bad feeling about him,” she
people, drugged-up people: They were
everywhere. Surely someone would jump the
says. She sat down. Richard was so quiet,
two of them, beat the crap out of them. To
Morgan thought that maybe he wasn’t too
happy she’d shown up. She was right.
Richard, it felt like a midnight walk down
Since Morgan and Brandy were old
Crack Alley. But what really spooked him was
friends, old dope friends, that meant they’d
a fear that Brandy might dump him, in a city
do stuff together - without Richard. “And I
where he didn’t know a soul. I just couldn t
didn’t want Brandy ditching me,” Richard
handle it,” Richard says.
remembers. Having Morgan hang around was
Insisting they weren’t safe downtown, he
prodded Brandy to find somewhere less
a bad idea.
Whenever Morgan bought all three of
dangerous. So Brandy and Richard walked,
them beer or meth, Richard drank and used,
south to Pioneer Square, north to Belltown,
then sat silent. Whenever Morgan and
then backtracked to the end of the Alaskan
Brandy hung out together, Richard bad-
Way Viaduct. They tucked themselves under
mouthed Morgan when Brandy returned.
the off-ramp, with the traffic rattling
Slowly, but surely, he eased Morgan out of
overheard. They crashed until morning.
Over the course of a week, they wandered
F
Brandy’s life. He felt that like most of the
residents of Tent City 3, Morgan couldn’t be
trusted.
The only thing Brandy could trust was her
sense that something had shifted in the
relationship. Richard’s protection didn’t feel
like protection any longer. “What if I would
have done something else and followed my
first instinct and not pursued a relationship?”
she remembers. Along with that instinct,
Brandy had another feeling, one she couldn’t
ignore. She needed to address it, and the way
to start was to head to the store.
finding work. He asked around Tent City 3.
These two guys he knew, one promised him a
job, once the recession ended. The other,
who worked, invited Richard and Brandy out
for a drink. His treat.
Inside the bar, Brandy had an idea on how
she could drink without hurting the baby.
She’d order a beer, take a sip, then pass it to
Richard. Order, sip, pass, order, sip, pass.
They moved on to another bar. Order, sip,
pass, order, sip, pass. On to a nightclub. It
was ladies’ night. Richard expected the same
routine, but Brandy, sipping a cocktail,
passed it to the guy who treated them. Order,
sip, pass. Brandy stepped outside for a few
The intuitive woman
drags. When the door swung open, Richard
randy and Richard strolled the aisles of
saw her talking to a group of women.
Fred Meyer, a supermarket-department
Once she came back, Richard was pissed.
store, until Richard found what they needed: What were you doing out there? he yelled.
an early pregnancy test. He tore open a box,
Bar patrons watched. The bartender ordered
shook out the plastic test stick and handed
him to leave.
the stick to Brandy. She carried it to a
Richard turned to Brandy. We’re going, he
bathroom, where she urinated on the stick’s
said.
absorbent end. Without the directions,
Brandy picked up the stick too soon and,
unable to read the results, shoved it into her
purse. When she looked again, the results
were inconclusive.
Richard stole another one. This time,
Brandy followed the directions. The small
test windows on the stick revealed faint
symbols, but she didn’t trust the results. So
on Jan. 26, 2009, they trekked to Planned
Parenthood.
After paying $20, Brandy provided a urine
sample. The pair sat in the reception area.
Neither spoke for 15 nerve-wracking
minutes, but it seemed like hours. A patient
educator directed Richard and Brandy into a
private room.
Yes, Brandy was pregnant. About five
weeks. The educator handed her a sheet of
paper with an estimated due date: early
October.
A baby. She was going to have a baby.
Brandy felt a surge of happiness. She’d be a
mother again. Skye would have brother. Or
maybe a sister...
B
A baby? She w as going to have a baby? In
T en t City 3? And w ith a m an s h e ’d know n
barely six weeks? If only they could find
somewhere inside, somewhere warm so —
Richard. She looked at him. Was he ...
crying?
Do you want to discuss options for your
pregnancy? the patient educator asked.
I’m keeping the baby, Brandy said.
Richard folded the due date paper and slid
it in his wallet. Outside, Richard cried again.
Finally, another chance at the family he
craved. Then Brandy saw what looked like
anger replace his joy.
I need a beer, Richard said.
What? she said. You’re supposed to be
happy.
I am happy. That’s how men celebrate, he
said.
Back at Tent City 3, Richard went out with
a friend. He returned, a little drunk, with a
few impulse buys he’d picked up at a store.
Brandy derided him for the frivolous
purchases, especially now. An argument
broke out. The tension rose. She said they
needed to save money.
Richard’s fist hammered into her stomach.
Brandy fell to her knees. Richard turned,
unzipped the tent flap, walked out.
Brandy held her stomach. What had
happened? One minute, they were yelling,
the next, she was on the ground.
What should she do? She wanted to tell
someone. Morgan, perhaps? But would
Richard get angry? Besides, the other times
he hit her, she’d never said anything.
Had she brought it on? She didn’t think so.
But he’d never hit her that hard before. So
she cried. Alone in the tent, she cried.
Richard came back later that night. He
didn’t say a word. A big, silent whatever.
Drunk, he plopped down next to her. She lay
there, quiet, as he breathed, and she waited
for sleep to come.
The next day Brandy wondered if Richard
would say anything. He didn’t. He acted like
it hadn’t even happened. She decided not to
mention it either. Instead Brandy moved into
an I-need-to-get-things-done mode. Drinking
and meth were out, but the cigarettes? She
had to quit them, too? Maybe just a couple a
day. That’s all.
Richard, ready to provide, concentrated on
B randy S w ee n ey
No, I’m not, Brandy said.
As drunk as he’d ever been and lost to
boot, Richard somehow stumbled back to
Tent City 3. He staggered to their tent, then
crashed.
He awoke to a voice. Brandy. He saw her
silhouette pass the length of the yellow tent.
She fumbled at the zipper and entered.
Richard lay still in the sleeping bag. Scoot
over, Brandy yelled, pushing him with her
foot. “That’s when he freaked out,” Brandy
remembers.
Richard stood, caging her in his arms. She
resisted. Don’t touch me, she yelled.
Richard grabbed her by the throat. He
threw her down. Brandy slapped him. He
punched her in the head.
Stop! she screamed. Get off!
They wrestled. They slapped. They hit.
She screamed.
Security staff and residents barged into
the tent. They pulled Richard off Brandy,
hauling him out. Leave now, they said.
Richard stood outside Tent City 3 and
bellowed. Minutes later, a squad car pulled
up. Officers subdued him, then shuttled him
to a nearby hospital. Richard spent the night
in detox.
The next morning, Brandy was still a little
dazed but remembered the fight. And she
reconsidered what she’d known for so long.
The relationship, it wasn’t good. She was
done, even with a baby. No more. Maybe a
shower would help wash away the memory.
The only showers available to residents,
however, were in a nearby gym. Brandy
prepared to catch a bus. As she walked
across the carpet liners that covered the
pathways of Tent City 3, she saw someone
standing across the street: Richard. He
stared. It took Brandy a moment to realize
why he was there:
“He was stalking me.”
Look for the second part of the series in the
next Street Roots. Republished from Real
Change News, Seattle, Wash.