Hide-a-bed
I sat at an outdoor table in front of a generic Irish pub. It was noon on a Wednesday and already 90 degrees. I drank a pint of flat craft beer and started writing a letter to someone who would never write back.
But something unfolding 20 feet away interrupted the writing.
Two tattooed women wearing shorts and sports bras. smoking cigarettes, were trying to secure a couch/hide-a-bed the size of sea lion in the bed of their 2000ish black Dodge pickup with bungee cords. The truck was a crew cab with no back license plate. The woman bore the unmistakable traces of heavy meth use.
I had first noticed the duo as I walked up to the pub. Both doors to the truck were ajar and it was clear they were living out of the vehicle.
This was nothing unusual to see in Oregon anymore so I paid it no mind. They had probably picked up the brown faux leather hide-a-bed for free off a nearby sidewalk and drove away, undoubtedly toward their local homeless encampment
There, the hide-a-bed would rest outside and accommodate someone or the couple or a dog and eventually burn up, get heaved into a dumpster, or float down a creek and break apart.
Like I said, nothing unusual.
As I took all this in, I surmised the women started transporting the hide-a-bed and it opened up unexpectedly, as all such unwieldy contraptions do when you try to transport them (I know this from multiple experiences moving in and out of various Portland apartments in the 80s an 90s). The ladies pulled over to secure the beast so it wouldn't fall out the truck and cause an accident.
So, instead of writing the letter, I watched the women work on the hide-a-bed with bungee cords. It wasn't going well, but they remained calm.
For a moment, I considered asking if they could use my assistance because I am en expert hide-a-bed mover, but then a moment later, I dismissed the idea because I really didn't give a shit. I was in the shade drinking beer. They were in the sun bumbling around.
The show went on for a good ten minutes until they were satisfied, got in the truck, and drove away.