A Train to Eugene

I rode the southbound Coast Starlight from Portland to Eugene a week ago last Wednesday. While waiting at the train station I had begun to work on an incident or two in I’KOSMAE, the conclusion to my SALTARAE novel series, so I had stuff to do. But the guy sitting across from me wanted to chat...His name is changed, and the conversation is as I currently recall it. More or less...

 

He said: “Hi, I’m Jim. You goin’ to Eugene?”

 

I said: “Yeah.” >Handshake< “I’m Ambrose.”

 

“What were you doing in Portland?’

 

I wanted to get my laptop going, but he was being polite and all, so...

 

Me: I came up this morning on business. Drove a van up for someone.” (I didn’t really want to tell the whole story...)

 

Jim: Oh. I came up for a job interview.

 

Me: Ah. You gonna get the job?

 

Jim: >shrug< Probably not.

 

(Silence)

 

Jim: So, what’s with all these homeless people in Portland? We got a lot of them in Eugene, too. I mean, just all over the place, on streets downtown, everywhere that...people, y’know...?

 

(I waited with amusement for him to say ‘everywhere normal people want to go’; I could read that in his tone, but he paused, then didn’t say it.)

 

Me: Whattaya mean, what’s with them? Everybody’s gotta be somewhere, right?

 

Jim: Well, why doesn’t the City move ‘em or...something?

 

Me : Something?

 

Jim: Well...

 

Me: You really want to discuss this with me?

 

Jim: Um...why not?

 

Me: I’ll be out of your comfort zone pretty quick here. I expect.

 

Jim: Oh. What do you mean?

 

Me: Okay, so I read repeatedly in multiple sources that there are more empty houses and apartments in the US than there are homeless people. I read that in so many places that I think it’s true. Maybe. Likely anway.

 

Jim: Oh, I can believe that. There are a lot of empty warehouses and stores, too, right? They could put in showers...

 

Me: Yep. So that means that the ‘Powers That Be’, the Gov’t and the super rich, could solve the homeless problem pretty much overnight, right? If they wanted to...

 

Jim: I guess.

 

Me: But they don’t. So...

 

Jim: I guess they don’t want to.

 

Me: BINGO!

 

Jim: But why don’t they...?

 

Me (interrupting) You should ask them.

 

(Silence)

 

Jim: Never thought of it like that.

 

Me: I did.

 

Jim: But how did you get there, I mean...?

 

Me: You wanna know my politics? My opinions on economics and culture?

 

Jim: (Somewhat uncertainly) ...Sure.

 

Me: I’m an Anarchist/Syndicalist with a lot of Situationist influence.

 

(This usually shuts people up, since they don’t know what to make of it. It’s a “shortcut signifier”, but one they’ve never heard before.)

 

To give Jim props, he asked: What’s that mean? I mean, I’m kind of an anarchist myself...

 

Me: Really?

 

Jim: Well, yeah...I mean anarchists are kinda far right, right?

 

Me: (laughing out loud): That’s not historical. Anarchists are usually seen as a weirdly far-left movement.

 

Jim: Well, but...I mean the left wants more government and the right wants less, so...anarchists are conserv...

 

(He trailed off there; I think he saw that he was painting himself into a corner. So I helped paint him in.)

 

Me: How do you account for George W Bush, then? Gov’t got bigger while he was in. He spent your money like a drunken sailor. 

 

Jim, grinning a bit sheepishly: I guess that’s true. I never thought of it like that.

 

Me, twisting the knife: But anyway, I reject the whole bipolar left-right version of reality. I don’t think you can squeeze an anarchist into that imagined reality, nor a real “little c” communist...and where would you put an American Libertarian? I saw a square thing, with two axes, Authoritarian at the top and ‘little l’ libertarian at the bottom, with “economic right” and “economic left” as the horizontal axis...

 

Jim: Yeah, I saw that, too.”

 

Me: I still didn’t find a place for me on that square. You’d have to go to the lower left corner and take off ‘downleft’ at a tangent to the plane...

 

Jim: Huh.

 

Me: I did warn you, right?

 

Jim: Oh yeah, oh yeah. You got me thinking...

 

I rummaged in my briefcase and got out a copy of my short story collection Small Mercies. I stuck one of my calling cards in it and gave it to him.

 

Me: Here’s a gift for you.

 

Jim: Really? Hey thanks! (pause, riffle through the book.) Wow, y’know, I think I better enjoy this tomorrow, after I get some sleep. Does this book have a way for me to get hold of you?

 

Me: I put a card in there...

 

Jim: Oh, yeah...thanks!

 

Me You’re welcome.

 

Jim: I didn’t get much sleep last night...I came up yesterday for that interview, like I said, but I was...unhoused...last night.

 

Me: Really?

 

Jim: Didn’t have anywhere to stay, y’know? So I walked around until about 2, then I found this car that was unlocked, so I climbed in there and got out of the cold. The worst of the cold, anyway.

 

Me: eyebrows raised

 

Jim: Yeah, I left at about 4 because I didn’t want to get caught. My buddy said I coulda been arrested for “Joyriding” but I didn’t drive the car away or anything. Maybe trespassing?”

 

Me: Or burglary. Breaking and Entering...

 

Jim: >Jawdrop< Really? I didn’t do any damage!

 

Me: Yeah, that’s in your favor. It’d be up to the DA whether to charge you with a felony. Probably depend on the state of his quota...

 

Jim: Wow.

 

Me, quoting Jon Minard: “You can’t be too cynical.”

 

Jim: What do you mean by cynical? What’s a Cynic, in your world?

 

Me: (thinking on the fly) I’d say a Cynic is one who has seen the consensus narrative turn out to be a lie so many times that the s/he no longer believes it without evidence.

 

Jim: Huh. That sounds right. How does that compare to a Nihilist?

 

Me, laughing out loud again: See that building? A Nihilist would not leave one brick attached to another.

 

Jim, also laughing: Not one, huh?

 

Me: I have a Nihilist streak in me. Nihilism is when you say: “There’s nothing worth saving in this world. Burn it down and start over.”

 

Jim, nodding: Yeah.

 

Silence. Then:

 

Jim: Y’know...I started this conversation out complaining about homeless folks, but...I kinda got a taste of that last night, didn’t I?

 

Me: Yeah, I’d say you did. How’d that feel?

 

Jim: Not good.

 

Me: nodding.

 

And Jim took another quick look through the book I gave him, then curled up and fell asleep.

 

I spent the next 1.5 hours finishing the chapter I’d worked on at the station, and left the train in a thoughtful mood. Jim was sitting up, looking sleepy, when I left; I hope he got off the train and didn’t accidently hitch a ride to Chemult.

 

Anyway...Gotta go. See ya!