8th of March, 2004

  I have a lot to write today!

  When I woke up, it was morning, the sun had just begun rising, and we were close to leaving Oklahoma.

  It was close to noon when we got into northern Texas. It was how I imagined. Desert. With plants that live in deserts. And buildings that look like buildings in a really fucked-up horror movie, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

  I like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I like Hellraiser more.

  We didn't stop for a while. When we did, it was in Austin. It was pretty hot when I got out of the bus. I rushed into the station where it was cool.

  I got on a third bus that took me to San Antonio. I got to San Antonio around 6 PM.

  I think it's only now that I'm saying why I've been wanting to get to San Antonio.

  Before I was deported a friend of Malin and David, Kat's parents who also became my parents, had helped me get into a shelter in San Antonio, and Malin and David had bought me a Greyhound bus ticket to San Antonio from St. Louis, in case Mindy's mom wouldn't let me stay in her house.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  When I got off the bus, I met my case manager. His name is Mark. He greeted me and did so with a big smile. He's African American, with really short black hair, and he seems almost a foot taller than me. I'm 5'8.

  He asked if I like Wendy's. I told him I've never tried it.

  "How've you never tried Wendy's?" Mark asked me with a smile as we walked to his car. It was the colour of red wine. He seems pretty cool. He seems like the type of guy who's always happy. I think that's the type of guy you need for a case manager.

  "It's all over the place," Mark reminded me. I told him, "Well, my mom is from Taiwan, and she handled all the cooking and housework, so I ate mostly Asian food growing up. I didn't have fast food a lot. I've never had Wendy's. I liked getting In-N-Out. I haven't had McDonald's since 1993."

  We drove to the nearest Wendy's. While I ate, he told me the shelter's plan. I would wait to enter the shelter in a hotel room paid for by the shelter for the next three days. The weekend shelter supervisor, Jacob, would bring me meals from the shelter so I wouldn't be hungry. He told me the current plan was better than the original. I was originally going to have to wait in an area called The Courtyard, which was not a great place to be.

  After I finished eating, Mark drove me to the hotel, and guided me to my room. We said good night to each other, and he walked back down the hall to the elevators.

  This is pretty nice hotel room I'm in. It's not fancy, but there's no problems with it. The bathroom looks clean, there's two beds, a chair, a sofa, little bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and little bottles of water. A way better room than the last two rooms I stayed in.

  I think I'll have a great shower and rest tonight. See you tomorrow, diary.