Streetwise

Early morning on Rainbow Bridge, Rat leaps eighty feet into the water.

Rat (Voice over)

I love to fly. It's just you're alone, there's peace and quiet, nothing

around you but clear blue sky. No one to hassle you. No one to tell you

where to go or what to do. The only bad part about flying is having to

come back down to the f***in' world.

Afternoon on Pike Street, Dewayne and Rat panhandle the crowd.

Dewayne Spare some change, ma'am, so me and my father could get

something to eat?

Woman No, I don't, son.

Dewayne Alright. (To Buddha.) Why not say you're my father?

Budda No. I'm not hungry.

Dewayne Alright. Then get lost. I gotta make some money.

Dewayne (voice over)

Living downtown, a typical day was ... I'd get up at twelve, take a

shower, get something to eat. Three o'clock I was on my robbin' streak,

start robbin' people 'til six, seven o'clock. Then I'd go get my drugs,

get my food, get my ... whoever I was going to sleep with that night.

Party until twelve. Then everybody would turn in and stuff.

Dewayne So what's up?

Chrissie Not much.

Dewayne Spare some change?

Chrissie Hell no.

Dewayne How 'bout a kiss?

Chrissie Hell no.

Dewayne Oh well. Life's hard.

Rat Sir, you wouldn't be able to help me out with a little change,

would you?

Man NO.

Rat Not at all, huh. Ya know, you're a f***in' dick.

Rat (voice over)

I wasn't even thinking about running away or nothin'. But my dad told

me that if I ever got caught selling pot, never come home 'cause he'd

kill me. So when it all came down, I just said, 'oh, well.'

Dewayne (voice over)

I never miss my mom and dad. They're part of my past now, the way I

look at it.

Dewayne Where you be livin' at?

Rat (singing) I be living at the YMCA...

An old abandoned hotel. The windows and doors are boarded up. Inside,

Rat roller skates through the empty corridors.

Rat (voice over)

There's this old abandoned hotel and we took all the furniture we could

find in all the different rooms and put it into this one room. And we'd

carry water up in these gallon jugs, 'cause it didn't have no water or

electricity. And we'd just shower down at this place called The Compass

on Washington Avenue for fifty cents. And do our laundry in the

laundromat and whatever it took. It was pretty easy actually.

Rat and his friend Jack in the railroad yard.

Rat (voice over)

And then me and Jack just started hanging out together. We're real good

friends. He'll treat you right. He won't rip you off. When your back is

turned, he ain't gonna stab you. I would never even have thought about

catching a train if it weren't for Jack. He showed me the ways of the

trains, how they run, where they go. And Jack taught us you can tell

the main track 'cause they got a gravel mound and it sets higher than

all the other tracks. And then you just look north and that's the north

yard. Then you just count three tracks over to your right. And then

we'd just jump on a train and be on our way.

Tiny on Pike Street.

Tiny (voice over)

I wanna be really rich ... and live on a farm with a bunch of horses,

which is my main best animal ... and have three yachts or more ... and

diamonds and jewels and all that stuff.

Tiny goes to the Adolescent Free Clinic for a gynecological

examination.

Medical Counselor So you don't have any symptoms right now, but you do

have some concern that you might have a sexually transmitted disease?

Tiny Nothing serious. It just might be trichomonas again.

Medical Counselor Did you ever have one before?

Tiny Yes.

Medical Counselor What did you have?

Tiny I've had chlamydia, trichomonas and gonorrhea.

Tiny (voice over)

I think it is very strange that older men like little girls. They're

perverts is what they is. I like the money, but I don't like them.

Medical Counselor You've been sexually active since the time that you

were treated?

Tiny What do you mean by that?

Medical Counselor Oh, good question. Have you had sex with anyone since

you were treated in Portland?

Tiny No. Just dates. The first date I turned was about two Thursdays

ago. Then I turned another one on Friday.

Tiny (voice over)

Some dates are nice. And some of them, the young ones are really cute,

but I don't want to be interested in them, 'cept for the money, that's

it. I used to least bring in $300 or $400. For a blowj*b it would be

$30 on up and for a lay it would be $40 on up. Most of these

veterinarian 'hos would charge more than us little kids do.

Tiny Isn't it after every two weeks you can get pregnant, after your

period, every two weeks?

Medical Counselor You can get pregnant any time during your cycle. A

person can even get pregnant when she's having her period. It's not as

likely.

Tiny I pulled a date and didn't use a rubber, because he said he didn't

use them.

Medical Counselor How often do you usually have your periods?

Tiny Every three or four weeks.

Medical Counselor And they come pretty regular?

Tiny Well, I just started in August.

Medical Counselor So you'd only had the one in August?

Tiny And the one in September.

Medical Counselor So you've barely begun. Did you ever have periods

before then?

Tiny No.

Medical Counselor You're how old?

Tiny Fourteen.

Medical Counselor And how would you feel about being pregnant?

Tiny I want a baby. But not by a new trick though.

Medical Counselor What's your feeling about being pregnant now, if the

trick is the father?

Tiny Well, I'm not getting an abortion.

Medical Counselor You might ...

Tiny No, I would not. I don't believe in them.

Medical Counselor Tell me about that. What's your feeling about

abortion?

Tiny It's like you're murdering somebody. Murd ... I can't pronounce

the word. But, it's like there's a little baby inside you and you're

just killing it. It's not fair to the baby. I mean it's not the baby's

fault.

Medical Counselor So, that would not be a choice for you?

Tiny No.

Near Pike Street, Tiny gets into the car of an old man.

Tiny (voice over)

I used to turn dates lots and lots of times. Just about every day I'd

be turning dates day and night, day and night. Then I got busted five

times. So, now I don't pull dates I don't know.

Rat and Jack in the abandoned hotel.

Rat (voice over)

When we'd get real low on money, I'd take Mike's .45, because I'd sold

my .38, and I'd go roll a queer.

Rat (smoking a joint) Tastes like Colombian to me.

Jack Ain't that bud that's been going around, is it?

Rat Ah, no way. You've got to buy that stuff in grams. I think it went

out.

Jack What did?

Rat Oh, I guess not. You know Alan and that guy he was running around

with? He had us walking around Mount Vernon for two days looking for

this queer that turned him onto all this procaine. We was gonna live in

his house for a day. And then when he went to bed we was gonna tie him

up and take all his money he had in his wall safe--all this procaine

and all this marijuana stuff he had. We walked around Mount Vernon for

two days looking for this guy. I finally told Alan and his friend, man,

I told him 'f*** off, man.' Me and Mike got on the freeway and

hitchhiked all the way up to Bellingham.

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