Moves

 "Magoo's in jail", Mark told me, as I was mowing the lot down the street where Magoo had been staying. 

Something about a car. The next day Jerry told me the police were looking for several others as well. 

We had been letting Magoo stay on the lot.

Magoo had left a collapsed tent, a pair of unlaced shoes, a plastic chair, a shopping cart, a collection of light bulbs, assorted nails and screws on the ground around the tent, a small tape measure, a mattress, and some items of clothing strewn in the trees and bushes.

There had been a man coming down and handing out budget tents, back when the tent city sprang up. Either he was still coming, or people were handing down the tents. 

The shoes were white sneakers, fairly clean, with the tongues hanging. 

The plastic chair resembled a middle school chair.

The shopping cart was on its side, of unknown origin.

The light bulbs and nails deserve a little explanation. The light bulbs were commonly used to smoke drugs. The cap is removed, and the remaining glass with its narrow neck forms a convenient makeshift pipe. The nails and screws were used to clean the residue from other more traditional forms of pipe. 

As I walked down the street later that day to begin removing all the detritus, there was a man back in the trees, getting high on something. I cleared my throat, and let him know he had to leave. 

"Do you have a nail or something I can clean my pipe with?" he asked.

I did not. That's when we discovered the scattered nails and screws on the ground. Good thing I didn't drive over this with my mower, I thought.

The man asked if he could use the shopping cart. Great, I said. Saves me from having to do something with it. He packed all his belongings in it and left. 

I dragged everything else to the curb for the city to pick up.

The next day I had to kick another woman off the lot, and saw someone else had left some clothes crumpled under a hunting sleeping bag.