Well, that was unexpected.
So, an 18-year-old girl came to my door selling magazines for one of these work programs (which are very questionable, to say the least: they’re often basically migrant worker situations which prey on young people). Even more questionable than I thought: turns out her boss has told the young women there they will get fired if they become pregnant. I’ll be making a phone call in a few days to assure she’s not linked to that disclosure. Grrrr. Suffice it to say, I went inside and got her NWLC contacts in case she or anyone else should need them.
She had caught me photographing spiders when she walked up, and we wound up talking for a bit. I do have some mercy for door-to-door folks…well, when they aren’t trying to sell me religion. Last week the Mormons came. Telling them I was Buddhist didn’t get them gone (”That’s cool,” they said. “If it’s so cool, you can respect it and go now,” said I. They didn’t) and in trying other ways to get them gone, the pug ran out. She doesn’t care why someone is there, just if they’ll pet her — so I wound up telling them as they were oh-cute-pugging her that she, too, was Buddhist. That got me enough of a pause to be able to scoop up the pug and shut the door. It was at least more polite then the time years back in Chicago when I walked out naked to scare them off. That works very well, for the record. It was just too cold that day, and I’m a bit less emboldened to use that trick with my 38-year-old-ass than I was with my 23-year-old one. Anyway.
But folks like this, PIRG canvassers and such… it sucks having a door slammed in your face on those jobs every few minutes, so I do tend to offer a porch seat and tea when I’m not smack in the middle of something.
As anyone who knows me knows, I have a strong confessional vibe: people I barely know tell me their unsolicited life stories on a daily basis. I sometimes know more about someone I have just met within minutes than others close to them know after years. When I take quizzes to find out what job is the best one for me, clergy always comes up first. G’won and laugh: it’s okay.
She’s the mother of a three-year-old already, was taking about how tough it was, and I mentioned what I do for my living in the course of sympathizing. She then lets out a long breath and tells me that she’s three weeks pregnant again, only recently relocated to here, and has wanted an abortion, but had no idea where to go, how to go about it, what it entailed. She also starts talking about her birth control history and how much Depo sucked for her.
So, there I was, just back from counseling the homeless teens — and truthfully, looking forward to a bit of a slow afternoon — basically doing a gratis options counseling session, as well as a birth control and DSHS-benefits consult, on my front porch. (And yes: for the big worriers, I know. I know that it was entirely possible this girl who looked and sounded just like the teen mother from Jackson she said she was was someone else entirely, and I took a risk. I know. But I also know that look, that sigh, and how this conversation goes with someone who really needs to have it.)
Obviously, I didn’t have to do any of that, I volunteered it, so it was hardly like my day was ruined. Her day was apparently made, mind: she thanked the powers that be for landing at my door more than once. It was just…very unusual.
Note to self: when really wanting a few hours of downtime, don’t answer the door. Because apparently, it’s not as simple as not going to the work: it can also come right to you.
It’s been a strange day, period, actually. On my way to the residental center, I got stuck sitting still on a bus for a half an hour because we just happened to pull up to a corner downtown in the middle of a freaking bank robbery. Thankfully, when the cops poked heads into the busses, I didn’t set off anyone’s radar. I tend to be one of those folks who authority figures immediately identify on sight as trouble, so I was glad my silent mantra about not being searched when I was barely awake was successful.
I think I need to be done leaving the house or opening the door today.
