Starvation Street

Starvation Street

by Paul McCann

People on starvation street sleep in the doorways at night and sit on pavements during the day where they try to beg for food .

They’ve been abused and accused , bashed up and knocked down .   

There’s always something going down, some stretch their imaginations with no excuses , no lies or no alibies for what they’re done or haven’t done .

They’re always under suspicion, when anything goes wrong and they can’t ’t leave town so they hand around on starvation street under ’re under scrutiny for everything and everyone’s got their eyes on them .

They’re told not to talk and not walk or loiter or linger .

Some are in disguise on the street looking for information and looking for some light to come through .They have no rights at all captured red handed with no time to think on the  brink of being arrested for something they didn’t do  .

That’s the name of the game on starvation street , so they don’t try to hide , they don’t try to run , they don’t bother to think about things too much  ,

Sleepy and hungry , homeless and weak , Skin Deep the nomad was approached by a journalist from The Truth Gets Out a current prime time news program that had millions of viewers each day .

They had come to do a report on the homeless and hungry living on starvation street ,

It was a hard old place all right going without food or warm clothing and there was no mercy or hope for those living as tenants of doorways .

A journalist with a camera crew arrived one afternoon to do a story on starvation street .He spoke to a random man sitting on the pavement ,

“Good afternoon, sir , my name is John Looker and today we’re doing a special broadcast on life on the street . Can IO ask your name “

“They call me Skin Deep “

He spoke softly to the journalist who started asking questions ‘

“How do most people survive here on the street “

‘We call this place starvation street and there’s always a vacancy here , I’ve seen passersby who can’t look you in the eye . They turn away with no hello or goodbye and their  noses up in the air , they’re too blind to see , and too busy to stop and ask if they can help . There’s always an emergency here starvation street . Today we had another fatality , His body was found lying on the ground . People walked over him and around him before one young lad called an ambulance ,it was too late though but that’s life here on starvation street .

Some of the news team had brought food and clothing and they began to distribute that around the people on the street.

The journalist asked.

 “Tell us in your own words Skin Deep how you ended up here”.

He replied well first thank you for stopping by and making time to get the cold facts about what’s going on. Initially I moved in here to this doorway after I lost my job, and I couldn’t pay the mortgage, so I lost the house. Next thing I lost was my wife and kids who moved in with someone else about a year ago.”

Here I’ve some photos of Lindsay, Larry, and Rosie. That’s Deirdre there who used to be my wife ‘

The journalist was very moved and asked,

“How long have you been living on starvation street?

“Can’t say exactly but it’s about three years now, give or take other places I’ve been somewhere here and there “

“Have you no family or friends Skin Deep “

“The only person I had who really cared was my sister who was killed in a car crash and after that I had no one to turn to, becoming homeless wasn’t that bad really however I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. So, if anyone is watching.

This program has a job. I would suggest that you keep it and whatever you do try hard to save your money for a rainy day “

“Have you any positive comments about living on the street Skin Deep “

“Well, I suppose the view at night is good, stars above in the sky. There; s no rent to pay or I have no bills. I don’t have a car or a mobile phone but I’m happy without those things. It’s really amazing the food people throw away in rubbish bins around the city, I have no laundry to do or cleaning up so much of my time is spend relaxing here.”

Skin Deep spoke with eloquence and was winning many hearts with his story. Many millions of people began ringing the station offering money and jobs and instantly Skin Deep had become a superstar on TV ‘

The next day Skin Deep had a place to live, a new career and plenty of other offers to rebuild his life again.

For the rest of his days Skin Deep managed several charities around the city who provided help and accommodation for the homeless. Before he passed away, he wrote a book called Starvation Street that became a best seller and the legacy he left continues to speak about the acceptance of little things that really matter most.

The End