ARTS + CULTURE
Leroy's day by taylor webster
this is my day. may twelfth. this is Leroy’s day. on may twelfth we were delivering furniture, a departure from our usual routine. one of our elderly caseworkers asked us to come along to visit Leroy – a man just past eighty who had been with the program for years. we were there to drive the truck and haul the coffee table and locking metal cabinet up stairs. Leroy is wiry and agile, hunched at the shoulders. soft-spoken and direct, he is in constant conversation with himself. he is bald, meticulous in appearance, and fastidious about dates and times. he opened the door and pointed directly to where the new cabinet would go. i’m not complaining, now, i just didn’t think it would be so big. the apartment was stunningly spare. next to the large window, which provided most of the light, was a dining room chair with a tattered Bible laying open on the seat, acting as the end table for the only armchair. a single sofa anchored the wall opposite the window. there was a small table with a single kitchen chair. all the rest of the floors and walls were bare, absent of any excess or ornamentation. no family photos, treasured knick-knacks, or dollar-store supplies. a cd/ radio boombox was the only concession to entertainment – no television or bookshelf or even a cd collection in sight. back in the days of paper food stamps, he would use only what he needed and return the rest to the office. he’d never accepted offers of furniture before. he isn’t one to take a stitch more than he knows he needs and is able to use. nothing in the room is superfluous. the half-size black locking cabinet overwhelmed the room and, after a bit of back-and-forth, we moved it under his careful direction to the back bedroom. the full-size mattress and box spring sat close to the floor, one corner housed two pairs of cowboy boots and three old-fashioned suitcases. we found a place for the cabinet where the open door wouldn’t hit the wall. the housing inspector, they’re so particular. he told us about the struggle to keep the place maintained to standards, to not scuff the walls or put in the wrong lightbulb. he had also been worried that the workers who were frequently in and out might notice his record collection. the locking cabinet had been a special request.
CHRISTIANAPP.ORG | SPRING/SUMMER 2016
31
