The Couch in the Alley

The landlord of the apartments next door (locally famous for having his picture placed on Safeway shopping-cart plastic flaps a few years ago) had a couch placed in the alley next to the DMV parking lot behind my house. Certain items, like couches, shouldn't be placed in the alley, because of the danger someone will use them rather than cart them away. But there it was. 

So, one of the local derelicts found the couch and sat down on it. This fellow is harmless, known mostly for walking the neighborhood while drinking a beer, and sobbing for hours. On Thanksgiving 2020, he climbed into a burlap sack, sat down, sobbed, and rolled around the empty DMV parking lot all day long. His beard is vaguely Muslim in style, and I wondered if he might be from overseas. 

This fellow was sitting asleep on the couch on Friday morning. Fourteen hours later, he was still asleep, in exactly the same position. 

OK, I wondered, did this fellow die? We are all our brother's keepers, after all, and no one should die alone. But is he asleep, or is he dead? I remembered years ago in Tucson finding a similarly-sleeping derelict. I called the cops and they responded by sending an ambulance with a screaming siren. Awkward if he was just sleeping. I never learned what happened there. And I didn't know about this guy. 

So, I went to bed. Next morning, the fellow was gone. So, apparently he was just sleeping. And I'll see him soon enough around the neighborhood.