Scraping by with a Smile

 

His face resembles dark leather, dried and creased by decades of smoke. He wears a white hat that matches the stubble on his narrow cheekbones and the cigarette between his lips. His blue jeans are faded. His black sneakers are worn out.

 

Charles Jones, 58, isn't homeless, but he's barely scraping by. He pays the bills by doing odd jobs around Gainesville, FL. You might see him towing a push mower behind his beat-up Schwinn.

 

“I get up on my bicycle, and I go look for it, you know," Jones said. I don’t just sit around and wait for it to fall in my lap. There’s work out there. If you go out and look for it, you’ll find something. It may not be what you want to do, but at least it’s keeping food on the table.”

 

Jones hopes to save enough to get a work truck someday.

 

“I get plenty of exercise,” he said, chuckling.

 

Jones used to own a car, a Buick LeSabre that he picked up for seven hundred bucks. He registered it at city hall and bought insurance, which cost another $300. Two days later he drove to the downtown library to rent a few movies. He planned to spend a relaxing evening on the couch.

 

Soon after he got home, a man knocked on his door and told him that his car was on fire. Jones ran out to the curb. He could see the engine sparking. He opened the driver’s door and pulled the lever to release the hood, but the heat had melted the locking mechanism. Smoke seethed from the grill. He dialed 911.

 

After firefighters smothered the flames, Jones was left staring at a lump of charcoal that had been his car for all of three days.

 

“I had to junk it, man,” he said. “I just spent $300, and then a couple days later it just catches on fire. Aw man, that was a big blow there.”

 

Jones has tried his hand at several occupations over the years, but nothing seemed to stick, at least not for very long. He was a DJ, then a firefighter. He worked in a blood bank. He fixed copiers. He did youth counseling. He did a variety of things, but no job lasted more than four years.

 

About three years ago he moved to Gainesville to be close to his aging aunt Cornelia Smith, a spry 92-year-old and former schoolteacher of 42 years. He visits her often, and he never misses a Sunday when she prepares a feast of home-cooked soul food.

 

For the most part, Jones enjoys what he does. He loves working outside without a boss hanging over his head. He has about 15 regular customers, but does occasional work for many more. 

 

“I really enjoy what I do. I’m not out to get rich. As long as the bills get taken care of, there’s food on the table and good health, I’m fine. I don’t have to have a whole lotta money. I’m just as happy as the next man.”

 

Most people are nice, but occasionally he runs into some trouble. One day he was looking for new customers, so he knocked on a random front door as he usually does. The door swung open to reveal an old woman who stuck a shotgun to his nose.

 

“Get off my porch, nigger,” she snarled.

 

Most people are not that confrontational. If they do not want to hire him, they usually just ignore him or tell him to come back later. Jones spends so much time helping other people with their chores that he cannot get around to doing his own.

 

“I got a honey-do list about as long as me, man, and I’m 6’ 2”.”

 

That does not please his wife, Sherry, he said with a toothy grin. Though he works every day, Jones makes time to go to church at Fire of God Ministries on Saturday nights. He enjoys the laid-back atmosphere.

 

“You don’t have to go to church with a suit on or a hundred dollar pair of shoes. Like the Bible says, come as you are.”

 

Jones was raised in a church much different, one that judged people.

 

“There’s some churches where if you come in with a pair of jeans on and a T-shirt, they turn their noses up at you, saying, ‘Don’t sit next to me!’ They act like you got some sort of disease. And they claim to be Christians!” he said.

 

“I don’t know where they get that from. Is it some kind of statement they’re trying to make, like, ‘I’m all this, I’m all that’? You judge me for my heart, not for what I wear. Clothes do not make a man."

 

Some days are good. Some days are bad. He had a bad day recently. He looked for work the whole day and found only one job, a mere 17 bucks and eight hours of wasted effort. How does he get through days like that?

 

“Well, I had a bad day, but, hey, tomorrow will be another day,” he replied. “I don’t give up on anything.”

 

He takes his life one day at a time.

 

“I look forward to it everyday. At the end of the day, I go home, draw up a map and ask myself, ‘Let’s see, where am I going tomorrow?’”