By: prenderk.near
Kelley
In the Spring of 2022, MarmaJchan and her friend, NEAR, began to hike more around their Hamilton neighbourhood in Ontario. However, on their usual routes, they began to notice a rising amount of litter strewn on trails.
On April 22nd, MarmaJ announced to NEAR, “We need to clean the area. Look at the beautiful swans and geese. If we don’t do something, this plastic is going to seep into their habitats and affect their little ones.”
NEAR nodded in agreement. “Indeed, let’s start tomorrow. We can also write an article about this for The Hamilton Spectator so that people will stop littering”, said NEAR.
The next day, MarmaJ and NEAR set out on the Waterfront Trail, dressed with their recycling and garbage bags, gloves, masks, and equipment. They managed to pick up all of the litter on the trail from the 403 highway to Princess Point, a beautiful protected lake and marsh area which was dotted with light yellow green willow trees.
That night, MarmaJ and NEAR were walking back to their homes when suddenly, they saw a beautiful black cat with yellow eyes approaching them. MarmaJ lowered herself to the ground and calmly put her hand out to the cat. The cat sniffed her hand and began to rub against MarmaJ’s leg. MarmaJ looked at her collar and saw that there was an inscription, Taco, written on the tag on the collar. NEAR also petted Taco. They both could see another cat watching from a chair on the porch of one of the houses. However, the other brown striped cat would not approach, but had a gentle demeanour.
When NEAR returned home, she wrote a long article about the benefits of cleaning litter for people and the planet. She sent it to MarmaJ to check quickly before sending it off to The Hamilton Spectator.
The sun rose again early the next morning. While walking to a new trail, The Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail, MarmaJ and NEAR encountered Taco and the brown striped cat. The brown striped cat came up to NEAR and Taco approached MarmaJ. NEAR saw that the other cat’s name was Quesadilla. MarmaJ loved animals and she and NEAR were delighted to spend time with these friendly felines. Taco and Quesadilla followed MarmaJ and NEAR on their jaunt, galloping next to them.
Once they all arrived to the Hamilton-Brantford Rail trail, they were astonished to see that there was even more trash than there had been on the previous Waterfront Trail. MarmaJ opened her backpack and brought out the bags for litter. MarmaJ and NEAR both began picking up litter once again and when they were almost done, MarmaJ noticed that Taco and Quesadilla were walking towards the nearby bushes on the trail behind the hydro tower. Curious to see what was happening, MarmaJ followed and saw that they were going to visit someone.
Taco and Quesadilla approached a homeless man in a sleeping bag. They sat next to the homeless man and purred.
The homeless man said, “Hello Kitty and Kitty’s friend. Thank you for visiting me today. I’m Oscar.” NEAR and MarmaJ smiled and waved at the man who made no move to stand and was merely enjoying the presence of the kitties.
Taco and Quesadilla snuggled next to Oscar and sat with him while they watched MarmaJ and NEAR pick up the rest of the litter.
Once they had finished, MarmaJ wanted to help Oscar with Oscar’s situation as MarmaJ truly cared about everyone in the neighbourhood. She hoped that she could help Oscar begin a new life. As an individual, it was hard to create lasting change – but as a community? NEAR and MarmaJ looked at each other and saw they were thinking the same thing.
NEAR said to MarmaJ, “The shelter system is overcrowded and does not provide enough supports to the homeless population here. I’ve heard about tiny homes being offered to homeless people to house them in Hamilton. Let’s contact the local non-profit that constructs tiny homes and see if we can house this person here.”
MarmaJ beamed and exclaimed, “Yes, we absolutely should!”
NEAR asked Oscar, “Excuse me, would you be interested in living in a tiny house?”
Oscar looked overjoyed, beaming in delight, “Why yes! That would be beautiful. It gets so cold at night. Thank you so much.”
MarmaJ clapped her hands and said “Well, we’ll try our best. We’ll call the non-profit who constructs them and see what happens. We’ll come find you once we have news.”
“I’ll be here,” said the man, with a bit of dry humour.
NEAR and MarmaJ trekked back to their homes accompanied by Taco and Quesadilla. Once at NEAR’s house, they called the non-profit about accepting new residents for a new tiny home. The non-profit director, Alison, gladly accepted and said that she would join NEAR and MarmaJ the next day to meet Oscar.
NEAR, MarmaJ, Taco and Quesadilla all slept soundly that night, dreaming of beautifying their city with tiny houses for anyone and clean trails and streets with no trash.
Early the next morning, the four of them along with Alison visited Oscar. Oscar walked with them to the non-profit’s location and filled out a number of forms. He had a bath, haircut, and a full meal and was set up to receive a monthly basic income. He was also set up to receive several other supports and services for his physical and mental health to help him overcome his time living on the trail. To promote sustainable living and potential entrepreneurship to the residents, the non-profit also offered many courses to the residents. Oscar enrolled in a course on urban agriculture and vertical gardening to learn how to set up his own urban agriculture company as that was his dream as a teenager.
MarmaJ, NEAR, Taco and Quesadilla waved goodbye to Oscar and Alison who remained at the non-profit office and walked all the way back to their homes. They all felt friendship and love had come into their lives this spring and would remain just like the tiny house.