Neither more nor less

After a difficult night at a city shelter and a few of beers Jewels sleeps on a park bench in Tompkins Square Park . Friends , including a white rat looking for a warm pocket in which to sleep , were there with him to welcome him back to the park .

Night-before-last Biker Bill told us that he had spent some time with Amy and Jewels at recently re-decorated Stanley's apartment on 5th street (see the apartment in its previous state here at NMNL) . This was the first that we had heard that Jewels was finally out of jail ( see his arrest here at NMNL)and back in the East Village . As Biker Bill related his experiences that evening at Stanley's it seemed that all was well .

Today on Avenue A we met a very concerned and unhappy Amy who told us that Jewels was in the park with his friends and that he had been drinking. He had spent a difficult night in a city shelter and on leaving the shelter was early in the day overtaken by a feeling of considerable uneasiness . He started his day with a beer in the morning and just continued drinking .

We walked into TSP with Amy looking for Jewels who when we found him was sleeping on a park bench surrounded by a few of his friends and acquaintances .

Amy read a more finished version of her and Jewel's tale of "Monkey Island" and the pirates .The story is a delightful children's story that she is trying to get published . Jewels has finished his part , the rhyming , and she will soon finish her illustrations for the tale .

She also told us that she was hoping to go to the circus in the evening with Jewels . She spoke of meeting the elephants and learning something of juggling from a clown before the big show began . She had purchased the tickets months ago with this special day in mind but now with Jewels drinking again she did not know whether or not her special night at the circus with Jewels would ever happen .

While Amy was in the park women's room Jewels woke-up and quite aggressively attacked us throwing perhaps a dozen punches and spitting . Nothing connected and we simply walked away .

From Jewel's perspective as he expressed it , which was perhaps enriched in it's reality by a few beers , NMNL was the reason that he spent 8 months at Ryker's Island . Actually 1 individual pressed charges against Jewels for attacking him with a cane ,grabbing his throat and demanding money, all on the avenue A sidewalk ( the arrest can be seen here at NMNL) . We were a witness to this event . Nonetheless we did have to contend for a while with some flying fists and some gobs and some spray of jewel's saliva .

Later in the day we learned that Jewel's was not in the mood to attend the circus with Amy in the evening , an event that she had been looking forward to for months and an event for which she had spent a good bit of money buying the tickets . According to Biker Bill , Barnacle Bill and Jay some of the Tompkins Square Park elders persuaded Jewels to understand that it was in his interest to get into the requisite mood and join Amy at the circus in the evening . We hope that Amy and Jewels enjoyed their evening together at the circus with the elephants ,clowns and all .