Rescue

  It was a chilly day in late March.  I was in the library, where I was most days.  There were two reasons why.  To check my emails and to be in a warm place.  The library was the place to be for most homeless people.  Some patrons and staff didn't like the idea of the homeless being there all day.  After all, they were dirty and smelly.  At least, that was the impression they had of the homeless.  Most of us were clean and just wanted to hang out in a public library.  We were public too.

 On this particular day, I was checking my email, and there was one from some guy asking me to come see him.  I didn't know who he was, but the place was near the public bus station downtown, and I figured that I could spend an hour in his office and keep warm.  I also needed the exercise to walk from the library over there.  

 The office was called the University of South Carolina Supportive Housing.  It was a division of the School of Medicine.  I thought he was going to offer a job to me, as I had a lot of resumes out there.  I walked in and told the receptionist who I was.  She said they would be right with me.  I was then ushered upstairs to a tiny office.  A man was in there with a desk, a computer, and two chairs.  He had me to sit down and introduced himself as Tom Bolton.  He then looked at me and said these words:  "A lot of people care about you."  I had no idea what he meant at first.  Being homeless meant that very few people cared whether you lived or died.  That was what society was like.  For this stranger telling me that a lot of people cared about me was about as exciting as winning the lottery.  

 As he explained, there were four groups of people who had lobbied Tom's office to get me off of the street.  It also turned out that these four groups all worked independently of each other for the same goal.  Two were from my church, and the other two were leaders in the community.  He wouldn't tell me names, but I found out later who three of the people were.  Tom told me that they could set me up in an apartment in Columbia.  I would pay a percentage of my income to them, and HUD would subsidize the rest.  He also told me that I would be assigned a case manager and be required to come to some counseling sessions once or twice a week.  Those sessions included becoming reacclimated to living by myself in society and not being homeless any more.  

 This was an answer to prayer.  I had prayed every night to God to deliver me from the hell of homelessness.  He did.  I also learned that the answer was on His time and not mine.  Tom also hooked me up with food stamps.  I had been too proud to get food stamps before.  They were for losers.  I figured out that I couldn't eat without assistance.  I was happy to get them.  I signed some papers, and he told me that an apartment would be available to me by the first of May.  I left his office with a big smile on my face.  

 For the next several days, I just smiled and sang praise songs.  Some of my homeless friends were happy for me.  Others were jealous, because they had been on the street longer than me.  They thought I had gotten favoritism because of who I knew.  God knew me, and that was all that mattered.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

Kelly

  While I was working on Andre's campaign, a mutual friend asked me if I would consider also working on a woman's bid to be the State Superintendent of Education.  Her name was Kelly Payne, and she was a school teacher in the Dutch Fork area near Columbia.  I went out to meet with her and strategize how we could try to get her to win.  I was impressed with her and said I would help.

 The launching of her campaign was at Edventure in Columbia.  We had a good event planned, except we didn't plan on pouring rain outside.  We had to move everything inside, and I got the attendees names and addresses, when they entered the building.  It was a good crowd with a lot of enthusiasm.  She was very charismatic.  

 I did two out of town events with her.  The first was in Hartsville.  It was on a Saturday, and we had it in a park near downtown.  I rode with the guy who introduced me to her.  We went by Darlington, and I saw the famous speedway.  It was a lot smaller than I had pictured it to be.  We rode around Hartsville, and I saw Coker College.  I think my father took some teaching classes there.  When we go to the park, my friend locked his keys in the car.  He called AAA, but it took them a while to get there.  The nearest AAA office was 50 miles away.  We set up our stuff in the park.  There was a makeshift stage already there, and other candidates spoke as well.  All of the volunteers for the candidates outnumbered the attendees, but it was a good event.  The AAA man came, and we were able to leave.

 The other event was in Conway.  It was much bigger, and had a lot more candidates there from around the state.  Some were running for Congress and other races.  We set up signs outside of the old Tobacco barn in downtown Conway.  It was hot.  The barn was hot.  One had to go outside near a river to cool off.  There was a good crowd that came.  Kelly made her speech, and she did a good job.  The problem she had was name recognition.  She was well known in the Columbia area, but not as much around the state.  She didn't win, but she was most appreciative for our work.  She was a class act.  You don't find that a lot in politics.  She would have made a good superintendent.  

Primary

  A Republican operative and I were going to Summerville, SC for a "fat cats" dinner.  As we were heading down there, he asked me about my campaign experience, and I started off with McGovern for President in 1972.  He about ran off the interstate and screamed "You're a Democrat?".  I told him no.  I am an independent.  I vote for the person, not the party.  I assured him that I was sincere my my desire to see Andre become Governor, because of the nice things he had done for me.  The man calmed down, and we headed on to Summerville.  He had MapQuest for the directions.  When we got to the exit, he went past it.  I asked him why, and he said because the directions had us going to Charleston and then turning back toward Summerville.  I told him to turn around at the next exit and take the Summerville exit.  It saved us around 45 minutes.  

 When we got to Summerville, we found this big farm on the outskirts of town.  The owner had money.  Our meeting was at the farm.  We were told we could work the crowd, but we couldn't eat.  After everyone was served, they let us eat.  Amazing food from the farm.  All but one of the candidates showed up.  She had to go to her son's soccer game.  That didn't sit well with those wanting to give money to the campaigns.  They had a straw poll, and she came in last.  Even the state senator who cried during his speech got more money than she did.  

 After the fiasco with Sanford, I went to a Christmas party at the State House.  There were actually two parties.  One was thrown by Andre and the other by Mark.  The crowd was big at Andre's.  There were a few people at Mark's.  I made a snide remark to the Comptroller General  about Mark.  I was called aside and was told he still liked Mark.  Oops.

 A week before the primary, Andre was travelling in the Myrtle Beach area with Mike Huckabee.  It was time to pull out the big guns.  Nikki Haley was having a rally at the State House.  Her big gun was Sarah Palin.  When I saw the crowd at that rally, I knew we weren't going to win.  The primary went to a run-off between Nikki and Congressman Gresham Barrett.  Nikki Haley won.  It was close.  Barrett had told me at the Summerville dinner that if he wasn't running, he would support Andre.  I also heard that from other folks, but politics can be unpredictable.  At the end of the campaign, Andre gave me a rather large and heavy framed portrait of the State House.  It is too heavy to hang on the wall.

Mark

  In May 2009, the SC Republican Convention was being held in Columbia.  We had a both in the convention center's hall, along with all of the other candidates and office holders.  Our booth was just across from the door into the meeting room and next to Senator Jim De Mint.  He brought in 500 signed copies of his new book.  He left with 495 at the end of the day.

 I took up a post near the entry door to the center.  It was my job to greet people, as they came in.  I also wanted this post, because I could see all the dignitaries.  As I was doing my job, I saw Governor Mark Sanford coming in with his entourage.  I stuck out my hand to greet him.  I told him who I was and that my cousin George was his doctor.  He brightened up and told me that he loved George.  We made a connection.  After everyone got into the hall, the convention started.  Andre gave me his credentials, so I could attend the convention.  I made notes of what each candidate said.  I had done a lot of opposition research on the candidates.  Most of the candidates were good people.

 In June 2009, the campaign was turned on its head.  The governor went missing.  His staff was told that he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.  When a Governor is away and out of touch, the Lt. Governor takes his or her place.  His staff lied to us, when they said they were in touch with the governor.  They weren't.  A few days later, he was spotted at the Atlanta airport having flown from Argentina.  It was a big deal.  There were calls for him to resign. It would have been easy to criticize the governor, but I told Andre that he needed to take the high road, because of his office.  He took my advice. Representatives from all of the candidates and the governor met in Spartanburg, SC to figure out what to do.  A deal was struck that the governor would resign; Andre would become governor; and then he would not run for a full term, because he would be the incumbent and have an unfair advantage in the primary.  We did not know that the governor was in Aiken, SC with his mistress and a political friend over that weekend.  They were thinking of what to do.  Sanford had decided that he should resign for the good of the State.  The other two thought differently.

 On Monday, the plan was that there would be a press conference.  The governor would resign at noon, and Andre would become the governor.  Then, Andre would withdraw from the race and serve out Mark's term as governor, which would be about 18 months.  We were all ready to pack up the campaign and go home.  When noon came, Sanford announced he would not resign as governor.  Our mouths dropped open.  We had a deal.  The campaign was back on.  After Mark's shocking announcement, Andre just said that the plan that was brokered had fallen through.  The primary was coming up, and we had to get back on the road.  

Booth

  One cool thing a bout working for a candidate is that you get to go to the South Carolina State Fair and get in for free.  Since I was homeless by now, I had a lot of free time.  So, I volunteered to sit in the booth to give out material about Andre and stickers.  The other candidates had representatives, too.  It was a little crowded in the booth, but we carved out our spots.  Another cool thing was we got lunch for free.  If you have ever been to the fair, you know how much money that saved.

 Before arriving, everyone had to agree to the rules of the fair.  The main rule was that we couldn't go on the midway and campaign for our respective candidates.  If we did that, we would be asked to leave the grounds.  The candidates had to agree to that rule as well.  The idea of that rule was not to give an unfair advantage to one candidate over another, and to keep the fair's leaders from choosing sides.  I really would have liked to go through the fair and handing out "Andre" stickers, since that was what I was good at, but we all had to agree to the rule.

 The only female gubernatorial Republican candidate showed up at the booth.  She said she wasn't going to abide by the rules, because she thought it was stupid just to stay at the booth.  She wanted to "press the flesh" on the midway.  She got a few steps out of the booth, when a security guard saw her and told her she needed to get back to the booth.  As soon as he left, she was out on the midway campaigning.  Another guard saw her and escorted her back to the booth.  She then found a TV crew and had an impromptu press conference.  She was complaining about the rule that she had to agree to.  The head of the fair was asked for a comment.  He said that they had rules.  She was escorted off of the property, but she got a lot of free publicity.  People saw she was spunky.

 In January 2010, Haiti had a catastrophic earthquake.  The people of Columbia wanted to help.  Andre put out an announcement that they wanted to collect supplies to sent to Haiti.  On Sunday, his volunteers assembled on the block of Sumter by the State House.  We were there to get the donations.  I was still suffering from pneumonia, but I had to be there.  We had one semi-truck for the donations.  People started to come.  We had sections for babies, children, teens, and adults.  The donations started to flood in.  We were prepared for a block's worth of goods.  It ended up with two blocks worth of goods.  The line was about four feet high and five feet deep.  Diapers, clothes, toys, and more.  It was truly unbelievable.  We filled the truck and had to call for another one.  There were also a couple of SUV's that were filled.  The donations were sent to Greenville and flown out to Haiti.  It was a remarkable event, and all the glory was given to God.

Parades

  When I got back to Columbia from Greenville, I was staying at motels and still had a car.  I signed up to help Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in his bid to become the next Governor of South Carolina.  It was not a paid position, but it was something to do, and I believed in the candidate.  Andre had been good to me, and I wanted to return the favor.  He was a good and decent man, which was rare in politics.  I also almost killed him twice earlier.  You can refer to that story in a previous entry.  There were five candidates in the field:  Andre, Attorney General Henry McMaster, State Senator Larry Grooms, Congressman Gresham Barrett, and State Representative Nikki Haley.

 During all my years on this Earth, I had never been in a parade.  I had seen a lot of them but had never participated.  That changed.  By the end of the campaign, I was a parade veteran.  My main job in the parades was to pass out "Andre" stickers to children.  It was free publicity.  And, if the children liked the stickers, maybe the parents would like the candidate.  So, in no particular order, here is the list of the parades:

 The Gilbert Peach Festival Parade in Gilbert, SC.  All of the candidates and volunteers walked the parade route, except for Nikki Haley.  She was in the back of a monster truck.  Some candidates passed out candy.  We passed out stickers.  Andre's mother rode on a trailer at the back of a pickup truck with a big sign.  Some people stayed for the peaches.  I finished up and went back to the motel.

 The Pelion Peanut Parade in Pelion, SC.  Once again, I handed out stickers.  The Shriners were right behind us on go-karts.  We were slower than they were, as they were doing their circles in the karts.  One went a little to wide and clipped my ankle.  It hurt, but I had to keep going.  Pelion is out in the country, so I found using a country accent worked well with blending in.  I also wore my Marines cap.  Whatever works.  Pelion is also home to a nudist camp nearby.  The women came to the parade dressed in skimpy bikinis.  Some of them were not attractive.

 The Okra Strut in Irmo, SC.  This one was a bit strenuous, because we had to walk uphill the entire time.  I was pretty winded, when I got to the top of the hill.  

 The Labor Day Parade in Chapin, SC.  I met Senator Lindsey Graham there.  It was before the parade was to start.  We had assembled in a school's parking lot.  He was sitting on the back of a convertible.  I went over to him to say hello.  He saw that I was wearing an Andre t-shirt.  He told me that he liked Andre very much.  I went back to one of Andre's staff members to tell him what Graham had said.  The staff member said that Graham would be for a dog catcher, if it meant he could get votes.  A true politician.  This parade was the longest we did.  We actually ran out of stickers, despite having 1000 to a roll.  I also ran into an old friend of my Macy's days there.

 The Little Mountain Reunion Day Parade in Little Mountain, SC.  I was working with an 18 year old boy.  He was a boxer at the nearby gym.  TV personality Joe Pinner walked up to us.  I knew Joe from way back.  He had also been the host of a children's program called "Mr. Knozit". And, he was the unofficial mayor of Little Mountain. Joe started talking to the boy and asking him a bunch of questions about his life.  I could tell the boy was a little star-struck and uncomfortable.  When Joe left, the boy turned to me and asked, "Was Mr. Knozit hitting on me?"  I laughed and told him no.  That was just Joe.

 The Columbia Christmas Carillon Parade in Columbia, SC.  I had seen that parade almost every year as a kid, as it went down Main Street.  Now, it went down Gervais past the State House.  Thankfully, it went downhill, which made it easier for me.  

 The Cayce/West Columbia Festival of Lights Parade in Cayce, SC.  This parade was at night.  It was dark and cold.  We walked a little over a mile, and then had to walk back to the staging area.  I had wished that I had brought a flashlight.  I kept running into the legs of children on the route.

 The Greer Christmas Parade in Greer, SC.  We got there a little late, because we weren't sure where to go.  Despite my living up there a year before, I had no idea where the parade was.  We accidentally found out by going the wrong way.  The police stopped us and showed us where the beginning of the parade was.  It was only a few blocks.  

 The Columbia St. Patrick's Day Parade in Columbia, SC.  This one was fairly long and some downhill.  Andre wasn't there at the parade, as he was running late.  We were told to tell the spectators that he was coming.  I was working with a guy named John, who was on Andre's staff.  He looked like Andre, only taller.  A man in the crowd yelled out "Andre"!  John told him he wasn't Andre.  I told him that he should have just smiled and shook his hand.  That guy would have told his friends that he had met the Lt. Governor.  Instead, that guy left the parade disappointed.

 The next few stories will also be about that campaign.  We had a blast.

Cancer

  When I was dealing with the pneumonia issue while being homeless, I had numerous chest x-rays at the hospital.  On one, they saw two spots on my lungs.  I tried to convince myself that they were two spots on the glass or on the film, but the doctors were convinced they were in my lungs.  They did an MRI and a CT scan to check them out.  By the way, when they tell you that the dye they are injecting into your vein will be warm, they ain't kidding.  The heat was a delayed reaction.  Then, they want you to lie still, while you feel like you are baking on the inside.  Not a fun time, unless you are a masochist.

 The hospital doctors suggested I go to an oncologist and recommended one off of Greystone Blvd.  I really didn't think I had lung cancer.  I had quit smoking in 1984.  This was 2010.  I had been around a lot of people who smoked and had inhaled second-hand smoke.  My friend Gayle had died from lung cancer, and she hadn't smoked a day in her life.  So, I decided to go to the oncologist just to confirm my belief that these were just spots.

 When I walked into that office, it looked like the Taj Mahal of doctors' offices.  There were windows everywhere, as well as aquariums. They had a gift shop and snack bar.  I wondered how many patients they had that allowed them to afford this.  I went up to the receptionist.  She asked if I had any insurance.  I didn't, so she sent me downstairs to the financial assistance office.  I talked to them and qualified for their assistance.  I didn't have to pay for anything.  That was a blessing.

 I was sent to the blood draw office.  There were a line of chairs with patients in each one.  There was a nurse at each chair.  I told the nurse that my arm veins rolled, and it would be better if she got it out of my hand.  She told me not to worry, and that she would go for the vein in my arm.  Before I knew it, she had taken two vials of blood out of my arm with precision.  It really was amazing.  I told her that she was much better than the nurses at the hospital, and she said that this was all she did all day and was quite proficient in drawing blood.  

 I was then assigned a doctor.  Mine was Dr. McElveen.  He was wonderful.  My blood work came back without a sign of cancer, but he said he wanted me to come in once a month to be sure.  I told him that I couldn't possibly afford all of this, and his response was:  "We are all in this world together".  I was so comforted by his words.  So, every month for a year I went back to be checked.  Blood work and examination.  No signs of cancer.  They did a PET scan on me to be sure.  Everything came back negative.  For about seven years after, I would get a bill in the mail from them for $202.  I wouldn't pay it, because I had indigent care.  However, it turned out that my care had overlapped a year from the first day, and I owed them $202.  So, I eventually paid it just to get it off of my credit report.

 About 8 years later, I had to go into the hospital, because I couldn't breathe.  They did a chest x-ray on me and saw those two spots still there in my lungs.  The doctors looked at my medical history and found my oncologist exams.  They also compared it to my chest x-rays in 2010.  The spots had not changed.  They decided that the spots were scars from the pneumonia.  No cancer.  I feel for all of my friends who have had to deal with that issue.  By the grace of God go I.