Hep C And A Lot Of Codeine by Hugh Cron

Scott was excessive. He would have told you that himself. He lived life to excess.

What I admired about Scott was that he had absolutely no regrets. I cannot explain why and you will have to take me at my word. I knew that he had no regrets when I looked into the twinkle in his eye as he told me so.

I first met Scott many years ago and he would tell me story after story about his life. I will admit I didn’t believe his tales of travel, wealth and famous people until the night he decided to show me his treasured photographs. There was Scott in all his finery, in some exotic looking locations, rubbing shoulders with some very famous people. I am no fashion expert but when you looked at the cut of his suit, you knew that they were money. He also showed me pictures of his wife and their land in…I think it was Thailand somewhere.   Now I need to explain where I met Scott. I met him in a hostel for the homeless. He was living in a room that had no toilet or kitchen. But as I said, he had no regrets.

He did decide to kill himself once. He explained later that he was frustrated. Again looking into his eyes I believed him. I never found out what the frustration was about as the subject never came up. (I’m inclined to blame his mother.) His attempt at killing himself was a disaster. I suppose that is the only time when you want a disaster in your life when you are trying to end it. Scott wasn’t a small gentleman. He decided to tie his pyjama cord around the handle of the top unit in his bedroom and then he slumped dramatically to the floor. All that happened was he pulled the door off the unit and it clattered him on the head. His cries of ‘Don’t come near me I am Hep. C’ were more funny than alarming as a bin bag was put under him and he was allowed to bleed. An ambulance was called and he didn’t get much sympathy. Scott’s head took another two batterings. He fell while under the influence of something or another and split his head on the toilet bowl. His screams were heard as he staggered downstairs and yet again he informed us not to touch him as he was ‘Hep C!!’ He was given some kitchen roll and a bin bag to bleed on. Another ambulance was called and still no sympathy. The third occasion was when Scott took umbrage at one of the largest men in the accommodation. Now I must point out, we all knew that Scott wasn’t a fighter. Hell, Scott knew he wasn’t a fighter. He explained his tactics later while he was getting his head wound dressed by the paramedics (Still no sympathy for his thoughtful screams about being Hep C.). He decided to hit the said gentleman with a fire extinguisher as there was no way that he could beat him in a square go. Scott lifted the fire extinguisher above his head, couldn’t hold it and it fell and split him. He never explained what had happened to cause his fury.

He was very excited one day when he had been to the bank. The bank in its wisdom had given him an overdraft of £500. We asked if he was able to manage it. He said with a smile that he had no intention of managing it…He was just going to enjoy it. We never saw Scott for two days. The bank never saw their money either.

Most of these situations were caused by his excess, whether it was alcohol or any chemical that he could get his hands on. He was asked what his drug of choice would be and he stated, ‘Inferior heroin is all that you get about here and I hate it. Coke only stops me getting drunk until I come off it. I am too old for E…But codeine, now that is my preference….If it was good enough for Howard Hughes, it is good enough for me. This was when he was asked about regrets and I quote, ‘Why should I have regrets. I have loved my life. I have drunk, snorted and injected more than most of all your junkies put together. I have had money, land, travel and basically done what the hell I wanted. Now is the result of my excess…So no regrets…I have had a ball!!’

What makes me laugh so much when I think of Scott was his total fury if the Minister came into the unit. He searched through the Bible muttering to himself… He eventually found what he was looking for to a loud shout of ‘AAAHAAA!!’ I am a little hazy in the description as the bible is not my thing but he stated that there was a passage in it referring to Lot taking his daughters up into the mountains and shagging them. There was also something about God turning non believers into bears. He marched through to where the Minister was holding court, pointed at the Bible and asked the Minister if he thought it acceptable that his God allowed incest and bear turning. Each week we went through the same routine. He never remembered where the passages were and always had to stand for around twenty minutes trying to find them. The Minister didn’t like Scott.

He finally got thrown out. It wasn’t for damaging his bedroom or getting blood on a fire extinguisher. It wasn’t even for upsetting the Minister or being out of his tits most of the time. Scott was put out for refusing to move out of the way of the lift doors. He decided he wasn’t moving and had to be lifted to his feet. No-one knew why he decided to sit there, he just did. The last I heard of Scott, he was bin raking in a supermarket yard looking for food. He was offered some help but declined as he stated that the supermarket threw out perfectly good food.   Scott was found dead two weeks later alone and in his flat. He had OD’d

I am sorry that Scott is dead…The only real harm he ever done was to himself…And perhaps the Minister who has never been the same.