Homeless Possessions

As I’ve said before, I live on a street which is a convenient thoroughfare from downtown Knoxville to the Strip, near campus. The homeless walk this street often, gathering aluminum cans from dumpsters, and heading to the Strip to hang out, beg for money, purchase alcohol, etc. I have found things between my house and the house next door that a homeless person has "stashed," intending to come back later and retrieve. There’s an old bicycle that’s still leaning against the house next door that was left over 2 years ago. No one ever came back for the bike. It could have been stolen but it was already pretty old and rusty. Now it's ready for the dump. Someone came along and removed a wheel. I keep meaning to set it out on the street for trash pick-up. The shoes are fairly new. They've only been hanging out in the back of the house in a pile of leaves for about one year. One time someone left their backpack stuffed beside the concrete stairs leading to the kitchen of the house next door for a few days. It became wet with rain before someone either came back for it or saw it and took it. Oftentimes, something will be "stashed" and if the person is inebriated or under the influence of drugs at the time, the location of their precious stash will be lost somewhere in their minds. This happened with a full trash bag of aluminum cans, also stowed beside the side stairs beside my house. It stayed there for three weeks before I branded it "forgotten." I then gave it to a homeless man whom I see often very early in the mornings canvassing the neighborhood dumpsters for cans. He was very appreciative. There’s money in aluminum.