Part 1

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August 2010

Atlanta, Georgia

After months on hard unforgiving streets Jacob had become homeless wayward soul. Sporting the classic bum look: bushy full beard and matted disheveled hair, his childlike innocence had long since faded.  With nothing but the clothes on his back, and a hooded flannel jacket he carried under his arms, he drifted from place to place. His 5’10 frame was slender and under nourished. Jacob seemed invisible no one seemed to care, no one offered a hand. His days were filled with begging and charity. His nights were spent trying to find a warm quiet place to rest. He couldn’t sleep on city benches cops would wake him up in the middle of night and usher him along.

Alleys were the norm for him, but business owner were often less than friendly, especially in the morning. Tired from wandering he found an alley beside a bar called Al Lee’s End to rest. It had scoped it out for days. The owner usually opened  around 11am, and she closed at 3am, which made it perfect for his situation. He would sleep there when the owner closed and be gone before it  opened.  Its proprietor was an young woman by the named of Vanessa Enderson.  She was in her early twenties, a few years older than Jacob.

She had a curvy womanly figure. Not thick by southern standard or toothpick thin. She wore a black rocker tee, cut off jean shorts, and sneaker. Her long dark hair rested on her pecan brown shoulders. It was around 9am Jacob was resting; his back was propped against the flat back side of a big green dumpster. His flannel jacket  covered the upper half of his body. He thought he had her routine down, until she opened up early one day. Suddenly, he felt something jabbing him in the ribs, but he didn’t move.Vanessa poked him with a broom handle  again.Slowly Jacob roused from his sleep.

 “You gotta find yourself another place to sleep, man! ”

Jacob didn’t want any problems he just stood up and eased away. “My bad,” he said “I’ll be leaving.”

He didn’t sleep there that night, but next night he was back there again. Vanessa eventually caught him  and the cycle continued. After a few, patience trying run-ins with Jacob  she soon realized he wasn’t dangerous. Through distance conversation he told her his story. Soon she began to trust him more. Truthfully, she was sucker for a hard luck story. She remembered her father’s story about him saving a baby years ago. So she tried to help people when she could.Through distance conversation she began to trust him more, and more.  They continued to work on their trust. After a while she cleaned in him up, and Jacob began running errands for her. 

Truthfully, she was sucker for a hard luck story. She remembered one of her father’s stories about him saving a baby. So she tried to help people when she could. They continued to work on their trust, and she cleaned in him up. After a while, Jacob began running errands for her. Earning some needed petty cash. He worked himself into a job at the bar, and let him sleep in the backroom until he got on his feet.

The bar was a family ran establishment. Vanessa’s grandfather, Al Lee Enderson, started it when he retired from the Navy. Her father served as well. After her grandfather died her father left the military and took control of the business. Sadly, a few years later he passed away and the bar became her responsibility. Not wanting to take too much advantage of her kindness, Jacob set out on a job search. Soon he handed landed a mailroom job at a financial firm. In-between his working hours, he went to college part time, and earned a degree in accounting. 

He used what he learned to help Vanessa with her finances.  After a while, he saved up enough money to rent his own apartment. I was It took him three years, to work his way up from the basement to a cubical. It seemed he had started to put his trouble past behind him. However, he wasn’t happy with his life. He had reached a dead end at his job, and his apartment wasn’t worth the four hundred bucks he paid in rent. The cramped studio apartment was prime real estate. It sat nestled between a fresh fish market and train track. It had muted peach tone wall. The kitchen combined with the living area.  There were no walls separating his bedroom from the living room.  

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