Street Preacher

Byron Cox stared at himself in the mirror of the bathroom. His eyes had bags under them. He had gone for days without sleep. His face displayed the wear and tear of a rugged lifestyle. “Look at how far I have fallen.” Byron was tall and slim in his mid-twenties. Over the last few months, he had lost weight giving him a worn appearance. Byron had power, influence, and the world at his fingertips. But now he nothing more than a shadow of who he once was. Byron asked himself, “what went wrong and how did I mess my life up. What is wrong with me” he was homeless and living with his girlfriend at a cheap hotel. His girlfriend Tina did what she could to keep them in a room. Byron was also unemployed, which caused increasing stress on their relationship. Byron spent most of his days panhandling on the street near the hotel, but two other panhandlers were competing for the small amount of pocket change that people gave. It was a classic toxic relationship. Byron had what Tina needed a vehicle, and Tina had what Byron needed a place to live. Their relationship was dysfunctional and full of mistrust, lies, bad communication, all take and a give mentality. He was tired of his toxic relationship with Tina. Byron stood staring in the mirror, then he yelled, “I am Apostle Byron Cox people will address me as this″ then his girlfriend said, “Bae, you high stop yelling and come to bed.”

Upon hearing his girlfriend’s voice, Byron placed his face in his hands. Byron walked out of the bathroom and looked around at the dated furniture in the room. Tina asked him, “are you finished tripping? Come to bed. It is almost 4 am.” He lowered his head and walked over, and climbed into bed. Byron awakened from his dream. The dream was so vivid it took a moment to regain himself. He looked around, trying to remember where he was sleeping. He saw the glimmers of light as they passed through his truck window. He heard the sounds of cars from the highway. He was in his sports utility vehicle, and relief washed over him. He was glad to be away from Tina.

That dream haunted him because he would have it dream at least twice a week. Byron did not miss Tina; they were together for a few months. Being with Tina was a roller coaster ride because of her severe bipolar disorder. Can you imagine living with a crazy, unpredictable, and emotional individual? Tina was mantic and depressed at the same time. Byron was the unreluctant passenger on a runaway train. Byron was a heavy drug user most of his money went to support his habit. His life with Tina was stressful; he was glad it was over. Byron also disliked Tina’s so-called customers who came throughout the night. They often fought over money. It was a complete mess. How did he fall so far? They moved often from hotel to hotel. It was hard to keep a place to live and support a drug habit. In the last explosive augment Byron had with Tina, he said, “I would rather sleep in my truck in the heat, cold, and fighting mosquitoes before I stay another night with you.” He thought about his nightmare and its meaning. Why was he staring at himself in the mirror, saying,” I am Apostle Byron Cox.” This perplexed him, but it was just a dream. However, he was relieved he didn’t need the extra stress. He was only concerned with taking care of himself.

It was about 4 am in the morning. Byron thought about his wife and how he missed her. It was his fault that his marriage had ended. They had a tender love full of passion for one another thinking about it depressed him. He missed her voice and touch. He also missed his son, but Sherry would have nothing to do with him, so months had passed since he saw BJ. Byron thought he could move on with somebody else, but he realized that his life couldn’t move forward without the love of his life. After his breakup with Tina being by himself was the best thing for him. Love and romance don’t work when you are struggling from day to day. He also realized that no woman could replace Sherry for him. Facing life alone was the only option because Sherry would never take him back.

Tonight he slept in the Food King parking lot. He learned, doing his time on the streets, where to go. St. Louis had thousands of homeless people. The first street lesson that you learn is where to find a safe place to sleep. In his mind, he calculated what he had. It included about 10 dollars, his keyboard, clothes, and little to no gas. Gas was $3.75, and with only ten dollars, he needed to make some cash. He looked at his phone, which had a twenty percent charge he would have to charge while driving around. This was Byron’s life living from moment to moment and day by day, never having enough and constantly struggling. Food was always an issue, but Byron knew where to get a meal. Lesson two in surviving homelessness is always knowing where you can get a meal. It was a hard decision to make between a Mcdonald’s combo meal and running out of gas. This was Bryon’s daily dilemma eat or be without gas.

Byron remembered a story his uncle had told him. His uncle said, “there was some boys cliff diving at a lake. One day as the boys dove off the cliff one of them upon entering the water, swam a few yards and then went down. A friend tried to save him as he dove into the murky depths. He grabbed the drowning boy to pull him to safety, but he began to fight his friend. It became a life-or-death struggle for the two boys. Finally, the boy had to break away from the drowning victim. As the boy descended into the depths, the other boy frantically swam to the surface. Byron felt like that drowning boy who no one could save. He would drag anybody who got close to the bottom. The most important lesson he learned on the streets was to never trust anybody. Byron put on his shoe, crunk his vehicle, wiped the remaining sleep out of his eyes, then eased into the traffic. He was going to the 5th street mission to eat, then to the Ymca for a shower.