Journal 116

After spending a little time at the jail with Tony and Victor, I walked out to the Spurs Fort to see Joshua. From our conversation yesterday, I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to talk to the gang leaders alone and arrange for a gang meeting or if he wanted to go along.

Joshua was out branding cattle and enjoying it. I think the boys and a couple of girls were having a little roping competition. Seems somewhat cruel to me but Joshua said that branding was the only way he could be sure people knew that the cattle belonged to the Spurs. He must have been having a busy morning. Dirt and sweat covered Joshua. I don’t think I have ever seen him that dirty and he smelled like a cow.  Stinky, Stinky, Stinky. In addition, he couldn’t just say “hi”, he had to hug me …ick!

I felt bad about taking Joshua away from his fun and games. He didn’t seem to mind too much but I apologized for the interruption in his play. His day probably would have been more enjoyable if he had stayed home. We went from gang leader to gang leader with the exception of a couple of gangs no one wanted to hear our cause. It was a waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

On our way back to the Spurs Fort, Joshua and I walked by the Black Cobras gang building. There was a long line of people waiting for their daily dose. None of them looked very healthy. A few people were asleep in the gutters. Black Cobras were using sticks to encourage those unable to get up off the ground to leave. A few people had to be carted away in wheel barrels. Today would have been a good day to show Victor what this drug is doing to people. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.