The Shoes of an Alien
Not long after I left Broward House, the rehab that I was a patient at in Fort Lauderdale Florida from April to September of 2019, I became close friends with those 3 brothers that I lived with in the Extra Space Storage in Wilton Manors. We took good care of each other. We made sure we all were able to eat. We made sure we stayed in communication with each other. We kept each other company. We even helped with each other's addiction by finding ways to make sure we always had a supply of drugs so we could stay high. We went out of our own selfish ways and looked out for each other.
Even for as close as we were, we didn’t do everything together. The boys had a few side hustles. One was a bicycle repair shop that ran out of their storage unit. They actually had customers. However, not all of their side hustles were as legitimate as the bike repairs. They also would go out in the late night hours, often after midnight, then they would return with usually a couple of new bikes out of nowhere. I soon found out that they would jack bikes that are chained up outside across town and cut the chains and bring the bikes back and sell those bikes. I wasn’t a fan of this business, but when you’re in the situation that we found ourselves in at that time, I didn’t hold anything against them. We often had to do morally questionable things in order to survive. And yes, part of surviving at this time of our lives was drugs.
Another side hustle that the boys partook in was literally climbing over the tops of other storage units and finding things they could take in hopes to sell or even just keep for themselves. I didn’t find out about this skill set that they have acquired until April of 2020. Well the story that they told me was that during one of the late nights hopping storage units, they came across a unit that was wall to wall with nothing but brand new, still boxed shoes. So when they saw this, they all shimmied down into the dark unit and shuffled through the boxes finding which ones they would decide to take.
Around this same time, I was going through yet another shoe tragedy. The soles of the shoes I had to wear currently were detaching from the bottom of my shoes themselves. The boys noticed this. So, on my birthday, which is in April, they boys bring me into their storage unit and move their couch to reveal a dozen boxes of shoes. At this point, this is when they tell me about their jumping walls adventures that they go on. They then told me that I could pick a pair of the shoes for me to keep for myself. At that point, I really didn’t even care about how the boys obtained these shoes, I was just, one, excited that the boys remembered my birthday and are giving me shoes as a gift; and two, I was relieved that I was finally about to have a pair of brand new shoes for the first time in years, let alone, when I needed them the most.
I spend the next few minutes shifting through the boxes, pushing away Puma boxes, Adidas boxes, Converse boxes, until I stumble across a basic orange Nike box. When I opened this box, I instantly fell in love with these shoes. At that moment the only word I could use to describe these shoes was perfect. Absolute perfection. These shoes were not only my favorite color, but they were also very unique. At that moment I knew I had found the shoes for me.
At the time I was not aware of the name of these shoes other than “Nike”. But so that you can at least google what these shoes look like if you want to, the name of the actual design of the shoe is “Nike Vandal High Area 72”. Like I said, I was not aware of their actual name at the time, so I just called them my “Alien Shoes”. These shoes drew my attention because of a few reasons. One, they looked like they were covered in texturized purple leopard print decals. Two, they have a goofy looking alien on their tongues. And three, because they looked expensive. Once the boys saw me trying on the shoes, they instantly knew that I had found the ones for me.
From that day forward, those shoes were the only shoes that I had for a year. A long year that consisted of me spending many more days and nights wandering the streets of the Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach areas. Sometimes, I didn’t even have socks to wear but I sure damn well had a bomb ass pair of shoes. I did my absolute best to hide the fact that I was homeless. These shoes definitely sealed the deal for that look too. Nearly every time I would meet someone new at their place or a hotel, the first thing that they would say to me, after “You look so much hotter than your pictures do you justice for”, or something along those lines; they would say things like “Awesome shoes” or “Where’d you get your shoes, I need a pair of those”. That always gave me more confidence that I was successfully hiding my homeless status.
Something that I didn’t anticipate about these shoes was the effects of me walking around so much wearing them. After having the shoes for a few months, I ended up going to New York City and having my crisis with my supposed Zoom friend I was meeting. So there I am, now wandering the streets of NYC, doing more damage to the shoes. Same story for the month and a half I was in Philadelphia.
Once I finally found myself back in NYC and in my SRO, I was finally able to stop walking. But even so, these shoes were the only shoes I had. And now I’m in New York City, the city where you walk everywhere everyday. So of course, the shoes take more abuse. But even worse than before. Hello Winter.
Throughout the next few months, my lifestyle hasn’t really changed at all except for, I finally have a real place to lay down to sleep. I’m always out traveling to somebody’s apartment or hotel, oftentimes, more than once a day. And here I am, still getting compliments on my shoes. Everyone was commenting on them, from random people on the subway to tricks I’m meeting up with to do drugs and bang. And for the first time, I didn’t have to actually consciously make myself look like I was not homeless I felt, because I finally wasn’t.
I eventually was able to retire my Alien Shoes and obtain some new/used shoes at some of the many “99 Cent Stores” and thrift stores around uptown Manhattan.
My Alien shoes are one of the most personally iconic items that I still have today from my days on the streets and in a storage unit. Everytime I look at these shoes, I am reminded of everything that I have been through. But they also remind me of my friends. Friends that I no longer talk to sadly. But friends that I will always cherish what we had and even what we did. I have no shame in the fact that when I was homeless, sometimes things had to happen that made me question my morality. But they still happen. Because sometimes, it’s the only option. That’s one of the many reasons why I am sharing with you all the most intimate and personal experiences that I have been through. For the people out there that have family members going through similar situations, so they can get a better understanding of what their loved one is going through. For those people, LGBTQ or not, that are going through or have gone through the same or similar situations that I found myself in. For that addict that doesn’t see any escape from the destructive cycle they find themselves in. And for those people who are out there helping others, like me, find a new found hope in life, to have a different perspective that might help them understand their patients or clients better. Just remember to put your shoes on one foot at a time.
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