Page 28 of Rat Park
**********
Summer arrived with a lot more free time for Flor as schools released their students for the season. Cat lent Dominic her car as her shifts became busier with the warmer weather, asking him to take care of Flor, who wanted to join Dominic on his Thursday Brown Paper Bag rounds. Dominic didn’t tell her she was crazy for putting her son in his care, but he must have thought it loudly enough because she said, “I trust you,” in response to his silence. Dominic shook his head, but he had learnt when to pick his battles.
Dominic tuned the radio to an R&B station as he and Flor got into the car.
“Is this the type of music you like?” Flor asked as they pulled away from the house.
“Yeah, I guess,” Dominic said.
“Makes sense,” Flor said. Dominic threw him an amused glance.
“Why’s that?”
“You know…”
“ ’Cause I’m from ‘the streets’?”
“You said it, not me.”
Dominic snorted as Flor smiled and poked him in the ribs.
“Not when I’m driving!” Dominic admonished. He’d been driving since he was a teenager, sacrificing drug money to make sure he’d be able to get out of situations quickly if need be, but he wasn’t going to be the one to get Flor in an accident just because he was distracting.
“Sorry! Jeez.” Flor replied, but his smile cut the sincerity of his apology in half.
After almost a year of volunteering, Dominic had learnt the names and stories of most of their regulars. They headed to the northern outskirts of the town, towards a bridge where a lot of the homeless people slept underneath.
“You can stay in the car,” Dominic offered as he parked nearby.
“Why would I do that?” Flor asked, already getting out with an armful of bags.
Dominic wasn’t sure why he’d offered. The idea that homeless people were more dangerous than anybody else was mostly a myth, but some of them had lost their jobs, and subsequently their homes, due to severe mental health problems and the broken health system that had failed them, and it could make them unpredictable and frightening for people who weren’t used to it.
“Just tell me if you want to head back and I’ll walk you,” Dominic said.
“I’ll be fine! I’m not a kid,” Flor huffed. Dominic just shrugged. “I’m not a kid” was practically Flor’s tagline.
It was just Dominic’s luck that it turned into an eventful night. One of the men was so drunk, he was almost incoherent and threw up practically on Flor’s shoes. Dominic expected Flor to be squeamish, but instead, he moved the man away from the vomit and lay him down in the recovery position, speaking to him softly as they waited for the EMTs to arrive. They waited around long enough to make sure the man was going to be all right before heading back to the car.
“They’re good people,” Dominic felt like he had to defend, even though Flor hadn’t said a word. “It’s just—life is tough.”
Flor looked at him steadily. “I know.”
Dominic released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. That man could have easily been him.
They drove for a while in silence.
“You okay?” Dominic asked Flor eventually.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Some people would be a little rattled at having someone throw up and then pass out on them.”
Flor shrugged. “Not me.”
Dominic glanced at him consideringly. “You were good with him.”
Flor shrugged again. “We took a first aid course in school.”
