The last two weekends I bumped into an American heroin addict named Keith. I'm sure some of you have met him before at one time or another, but perhaps not -- since I first met him just two weekends ago after 17 trips to the ZONA and spending a whole week in the summer.

Never having seen him, at first I bought his story that his brother David had been held captive by the policia for smashing a taxi window by accident.  He was let go to go home so he could come back to pay the fee of $1,100.  

He is 29 years old (my age); was well-groomed despite being grimy, and had a fairly new Nautica ski jacket.  But he had fucked up shoes and battered sweats, which didn't fit the part even thought he claimed to have been bouncing around TJ and having been beaten by the police the last 4 days (supposedly evidenced by the bleeding open gash on his right temple).  

The first time I bumped into him he smelled nice and looked like your classic American preppy from the East Coast -- which is what he was. In fact, he could have been any of those models on the print ads of The GAP, JCrew, Polo, etc.  He said he was a graduate or former student of UMASS. I talked to him about what I was doing here, where I had gone to school, which led to a mini-discussion about some intellectual topics only someone who was around academia would have been able to comfortable talk about like he did.  He only wanted $10 to gather the remaining dollars needed for a bus trip to Oxnard.  SO I gave it to him and wished good luck.  He asked me if I wanted his jacket as compensation, but I declined and told him a better favor was to email me the story of his and his borther's Tijuana misadventure.  

Well, he took off down COnstitution the opposite direction of where the border was and disappeared into the early morning down an alley.  COnfused, I spoke with a taxi driver that had lived in L.A> for awhile and spoke at length in English about life in TJ, the ZOna, and most importantly about that American I just gave $10 to.  The cabbie said he is a regular heroin addict and was stuck in TJ.  I couldn't beleive it -- he was your classic All-AMerican.  I found out later from him the following week that he has been a heroin addict in TJ for 5 1/2 years but he simply didn't look the part.  I'm serious, this guy spoke like he was a graduate student and he looked like he just stepped out of an ad for Polo.  All fucked up as he was, he's probably better looking than me on my best day.  He's as out of place as a gator in a coi pond.

The following week, I bumped into him a second time and he apologized for lying to me the first time and told me his whole story for what it is worth.  I bought him two tacos and he did not ask me for money this time.  In discussing his TJ misadventure and his life story, we branched out into philosophy and other academic topics.  But most importantly, I was able to gather some crucial basic info about him that can be used to help save this guy.

He doesn't have must time left.  Even he admits his luck is running out.  I could see that his hands were covered in blisters that could have been from needle injections.  

He grew up in NY, graduated from UMASS in Amherst around 1997 or 1998. History major.  Was planning a trip to dirt-bike adventure in Morroco before his dream bike got stolen and he went postal.  Dad is a lawyer in NY; mother a doctor in NY.  Parents think he is dead after no contact for 5 1/2 years.  Keith is about 5'10" - 6'00; 180 pounds; used to be 240 pound Rugby player before being consumed by heroin.  Pure caucasian; long, slicked- back hair on top and fade on back and sides.  Angular, white-boy model features with long pointy nose, wide-set jaws that the media stereotypes as being of the Aspen jetset scene.  Obviously, I take anything I hear in TJ nowadays with a grain of salt, but this is all I have to go by.

Called FBI and they refered me to NYPD.  NYPD told me to get lost .  They said a missing persons report had to be made in person and didn't have time to tend to my humanitarian story over the phone.  Oh, and they don't deal with missing person who are addicts.  

Doesn't affect me one bit of this person perishes, but I think I could do something here.  His parents at least should know where he is.  I mean he claims to be an only child and it would be a really nice Christmas gift for two parents if they knew that their son was alive after 5 1/2 years of thinking he was dead.

Merry Christmas, all.

Rico

-- Modified on 12/16/2003 2:39:21 PM

-- Modified on 12/16/2003 3:04:36 PM