Scott
Scott sits in his room at the Last Stop Recovery House on Kensington Avenue, 2013.
Audio Recording took place during dinner at Cast Your Cares down the block.
Audio Transcript
Scott: I’m staying at the last stop, um, I came out from California. I just came out here, I was born and raised here, but uh, I came out here about seven months ago, and got wrapped up on the streets out here. I came out here on a freight train. But yeah, I got wrapped up down here and didn’t wanna jump the train in the wintertime.
Volunteer: Would anyone…excuse me; would anybody like one?
Scott: Yes, thank you, appreciate it.
JS: Thank you.
Scott: Thank you very much.
Volunteer: You’re very welcome.
Scott: And uh, I’m the cook there at the Last Stop actually, I’m the guy who’s got the Irish flag hanging out the window, have you seen that?
JS: Yeah.
Scott: Yeah, that’s me, that’s my window.
JS: Awesome.
Scott: It was the legal system I was leaving behind, and um…
JS: What do you mean?
Scott: Like, uh, I was getting in trouble for drugs, to support the drug habit, here in Philadelphia. And I’m thirty-eight years old; this was when I was in my early twenties. So I left and went down to Florida and um, the crimes I had would’ve gotten me in trouble here, but they weren’t extraditable offenses, so they wouldn’t extradite me back here, so it was basically ‘stay out of Philadelphia’. And then, um, 911 hit…in Florida, everything’s flown in in Florida, so I left Florida and started just drifting. I had a really good time doing it.
Volunteer: Would you like another sticky bun?
Scott: Uh, no thanks.
Volunteer: You sure?
Scott: Yeah, I’ll take one, okay.
Volunteer: I got one with nuts…
Scott: Yeah, that one’s good.
Volunteer: Here, have one with raisins…
Scott: Alright.
Volunteer: …And this one has raisins and nuts.
Scott: Okay, we’ll take em to the kids.
[To JS]: But yeah, you would love taking pictures of the, of the freight trains. You see some beautiful things.
JS: Yeah?
Scott: Through the cascades, from Roseville to uh, to Klamath Falls, from Klamath all the way up to Seattle, Arizona… beautiful places in America. People don’t get to see them; the only thing that runs down these lines are freight trains, you know, so only the guys driving the train. Usually there’s a road that follows the train, but not everywhere, especially in the national forests, when it cuts through there. The only up there on them mountains is freight trains and animals.
JS: So how did you find the Last Stop?
Scott: Actually, I heard about it in California.
JS: Really?
Scott: Uh huh. A friend of mine was out here, and uh, he got in a jam out here, same thing, got wrapped up with drugs, and went to the Last Stop, and then, um, he only stayed there for a small time, and then he went back to California, but he told me about it. Cause I was born and raised over here, uh, Frankford and Tioga, so, so it worked out. I got…went to the Last…The Last Stop saved me. Y’know? I’ve been there, like, fifty-nine days, and there’s only like four people from when I walked in through the door. Most of them couldn’t make it, y’know? A lot of them left on good terms, don’t get me wrong, but um, y’know, look at the neighborhood: you got drugs right out front there, you know what I mean? I mean, it’s not for the people who uh, need it, it’s for the people who want it. But Eddie always tries with almost everybody. He’ll give anybody a chance. In fact I think the harder the case is the more he likes to try to help them. Y’know, the people that nobody else wants? He wants those people.
Nobody wanted me! I went to Cooper hospital, OD’d, they said I was, because I’d stopped breathing, I was thirty seconds away from brain damage and minutes away from death. And as soon as I started breathing, they gave me a meal and told me to have a good day, get out. And I was like ‘man, I almost died! You were just telling me I almost died!’. Eddie took me with nothing, no ID, no nothing. Then I got my own room, y’know what I mean, and I’m good. I haven’t used drugs or alcohol in uh, fifty-nine days. Yknow, and alls he asks you to do is help out, just don’t sit around and take it for a free ride. He doesn’t ask you for any money, if you can give, you give; if you can’t, at least get up off your behind and try to pitch in and help out. A lot of guys come in and help out that have a lot of time, clean and sober, like, guys that have been in my position and are now, y’know, living, uh, life. And um, they come and give back. The guys who live there, with less days, I mean there’s only about four or five of those guys who really help out, like regularly, there every day. And then we got guys that are there that are kicking dope, you know, they’re withdrawing from Heroin, and uh, they’re…some of them don’t know, you know, some of those people never had a job, or if they do, they’ve always been told what to do; to move on their own initiative is uh, is very hard for them. And um, some of them are depressed because of what’s happened, uh, their situation or their family or whatever, y’know what I mean? And some of them are suffering from different types of mental problems, y’know? He doesn’t just take drug addicts and alcoholics; he’ll take anybody if they, if they have a desire to do something with themselves, y’know. He used to go up and down the Ave at night and look for addicts, to bring em in here, to comb the avenue…
