Tondeleo: This is part three of a series of interviews I did with Doc Stevens more than a year ago, and never typed up. We're talking about how a sober, hard working man can be in poverty, and how hard it is when a person is in a new area, with no family support.
"Doc, you've talked about living in the streets, and the other night you talked about how you survive if you're new in an area, and you have found a job, but you haven't got paid yet. And you are staying in a room or motel that you rent by the week. You said if you don't pay the rent by checkout time on Friday, they will lock you out of your room, with all your possessions in it, until you pay in full. You said that you sometimes will steal to get the money you need. Can you tell me some more about that?"
Doc: Right. Well, what you said is right. Most folks know that stealing aint right. I aint like stealin' an' I ain't like gettin' caught or goin' to jail. But I have stole before. I have tookin' things what ain't mine, and sold them to pay rent or buy food.
I aint a drunk and I aint a druggie. I am the first male in my family bloodline to not give over to alcohol. The very first one. All of the rest of 'em did. Not their whole lives, but they all have lost jobs and been in trouble for drinkin.' I ain't gonna lie, cause I have drank before to keep warm. And I aint no thief but I have tooken things what ain't no one want, or was 'bandoned to get something to eat. Nothing too big, cause I aint wantin' to go to jail, specially in a town where the law aint know me.
I ain't a shoplifter neither. Shoplifting is low. Them people need that stuff to sell so they can pay their bills.
Tondeleo: "How can you know if somebody doesn't want what you think is ok to take because you've seen it sitting untouched for a while? That sounds a little strange to those of us who don't do things like that..."
Doc: Well... Dumpster ["Dumpster" is the Yank word for "skip" - 
Tondeleo] divin' ain't strictly stealin' and I will go through dumpsters behind stores for food an' things to sell. Panerro Bread throws out stuff on Thursdays what is still good enough to eat. So'd most grocery stores. In Winter it's better cause the food stays cold and fresh longer.
Toys R Us throws out toys an' bikes sometimes what I can sell. They could call it stealin' but I have had a sheriff pull up one time when I was in the dumpster, an' he knew who I was an' just tole me not to get hurt or fall asleep in the dumpster. I go either about 5 in the morning or about midnight. I take a shoulder bag for what I can carry and if it's big stuff, I hide it in the woods til I can get it home.
Tondeleo: What kinds of things would one find in a dumpster? I can't imagine going through the rubbish like that.
Doc: People in America throw away anything they ain't feel like keeping. Radios, computers what's a couple years old, drills, saws, clothes what's takin' up too much room. You name it. Stereos and TV's too.
Behind a store you can find whatever they sell inside and aint want to deal with. Like things what people returned, or been on the shelf too long, or got some fingerprints on 'em from bein' on display. I got computers, tools, all kinds of electric stuff, and things what's perfectly good. I can sell 'em cheap and help people out and help myself at the same time. Aint nothin' wrong with that.
Oh yeah, Tondy, you wanna take a cane with you to pull stuff out with, what might have other things piled on it, and to help pull yourself out with if it is a deep dumpster. And for protection from somebody tryin' to rob you. You ain't gonna get in trouble for carryin' a cane, but you can protect yourself with it real good.
Tondeleo: Back to stealing. I can tell you're avoiding me a little bit here, Doc.
Doc: Ok. I aint like talkin' about stealin'. But like in the city, at a liberry, hospital or a college, I have tooken bikes what have been left chained up in a public place where the owners 'bandoned them. You see that all the time. Chained up, the chain is rusty and that bike has been there for weeks. I will take one of them and not feel bad at all for doin' it. It's doin my part to clean up the city when the locals won't do it.
I have took a hack saw blade and cut a few minutes at a time till I could get the bike. One time I cut the frame on the bike right there in front of the seat, where the hardened chain went through, and then welded it back up at the body shop where I had just got a job. I cleaned up that bike and sold it for 30 bucks for a room that night. I done that more
than once, now that I remember it. But I aint did nothin' wrong. It had been there a long time, I could tell by the dirt the way it was on it, and around the bottom of the tires, and on the rims, all the dirt was old and at the bottom. So it aint really stealin. More like recyclin'. And eatin' and keeping me off the streets. Uh... and givin' someone else a chance to own a bike pretty cheap. Maybe twenty bucks or even ten if it ain't too good.
I have tooken parts of abandoned cars and sold them. I have found things what has sat outside too long and sold them too. Or when somebody moves and leaves things in their shed. I have tooken things what was left, like a lawnmower before someone else took it. I needed the money.
Mostly when I go to another place to live, I aint got much money an' sometimes I have to move cause I aint got no money at all. I got to sell somethin', play my guitar or do some work for somebody and get paid before I can even get a room for the night. In the winter that's hard. That's why in the winter I try to stay down south.
If I can get 50 or 60 dollars the first day in town, that' money's goin' for a motel room and some food. But I know I am homeless by checkout time the next day, so I got to get all my stuff out and try to hustle some money somehow, so I got a place to sleep that night. If it's warm weather, it aint so bad. A man can find a place to sleep in a lot of places. A unlocked car behind a body shop or garage is a good one. You just have to be able to wake up when the sun comes up and get your stuff and get outta there. Boats is a good place for a poor man to sleep. People leave 'em on their back yards and they don't pay no attention to them for a month or two at a time.
You can sleep in new houses bein' built, too. I done that plenty. I don't go to no 'bandoned houses. Too many crackheads and drunks. A crackhead will kill you for $5 which you might not even have. I don't hang out in alleys. Don't sleep in no dumpsters, none of that. I aint no bum or mental case. I am a hard workin' man, but when you first hit a new place and aint got nothin' you got to find a place to put your stuff, and to sleep and get food til you get a job and a couple paychecks. Then you can do all right.
