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Philly-born Wayne had been on the streets since 1980, he said, "when my mother kicked me out," so 32 years, though later he mentioned renting a $360-a-month room, in a house he shared with seven other men. When I pointed out this discrepancy, he said he prefered "camping," that's all, meaning he was rarely in his room, "and it's one big mess anyway." He said he had found a better place, four rooms in all, at only $250 a month, and right downtown. He blamed all of his and the country's troubles on Catholics, "We should only have one educational system, but Catholics have their own schools, so the country is divided. Catholics don't like anybody who isn't a Catholic, and that's why nothing works in this country. We're divided. Take the war, for example. We've been fighting ten years against people with nothing, against people with a few guns and a couple of hand grenades, and we still can't win, because we're divided. I mean, we have all of these tanks, planes and aircraft carriers, but we can't beat anybody, because we're divided. Same as in Vietnam. On the battlefield, our Catholic soldiers won't talk to anybody, because that's how they are. Catholics only want to talk to each other, and they only give jobs to each other. All the good jobs go to Catholics, and there ain't nothing left for anybody else. At the house I share, these Catholics won't talk to me. All seven of them. Now, I'm the kind of guy who has to know what's going on, so I always have the radio on, but they always tell me to turn it off. I need to listen to the news just in case there's an emergency or something. I always have the radio or TV on, or I put a CD on or something, because I need information. You never know if there's a hurricane, a twister or an earthquake coming your way. I mean, I don't want to be sitting there, and have the earth falls out from under me. But these Catholics, they just don't care. They want to die, so they can go to their heaven. They have so many rules for everything, unlike the public school kids. They can't say this, say that, do this, do that. The public schools are like, Whatever, que sera, sera, but if you're a Catholic, you can hardly do anything. Take their women. Catholic women are trained to be nuns, they hate sex, so Catholics don't have enough children, and that's why they must adopt. The Catholic men will have sex, but not the Catholic women. Catholic women will eat your food, drink your wine, even do drugs with you, but when it comes time to have sex, they're out of there! Catholics don't have enough children, and that's why they must lure public school kids into Catholic schools, to turn them into Catholics. They are taking over, and you can't get a good job, hell, any job, unless you're a Catholic. The mayor is a Catholic, and all the cops and bus drivers are also Catholics. Catholics don't like anyone who isn't a Catholic, and that's why just about every time I get on a bus, the Catholics kick me off. Someone would say, He smells! Or, He's talking too loud, and the Catholic bus driver would kick me off. I'm going to sue them, because I've been kicked off at least ten times, and each time, I was mugged after I had gotten off the bus. My money situation is a little tight right now, but when I get a few things straighten out, I'll sue them for breach of contract. When you get on a bus and pay your fare, they're supposed to take you where you want to go, not wherever they feel like dumping you, so that's a breach of contract, and that's why I'll sue them. I mean, what's all this nonsense about me smelling funny? It's all subjective. Anyone can smell anything he feels like. Smelling is subjective. It's all in your head, mostly. You may think I smell funny, but maybe it's you who smell funny. You may think it's me you're smelling, but it's you who stink to high heaven."

In the middle of his monologue, a young black man walked by and gave Wayne something in a paperbag. It turned out to be a half liter bottle of Bacardi, but with about two thirds of it gone. "I ain't gonna to drink that. You can't trust a Catholic when he gives you something."

"How do you know he was Catholic?"

"By his goatee. He had a goatee."

"But I have a goatee too, and I ain't Catholic."

"But yours comes out to the sides, see, but his was just a goatee. I'm not going to touch anything that's given to me by a Catholic. If a Catholic gives you something to eat, you'll get sick. They come out here sometimes to give away food, but they don't eat that same food, you see, and if you're stupid enough to eat what they give you, you'll have heart or liver troubles, or you'll get diabetes. They don't kill you immediately, but they'll kill you. The city is falling apart, and Nutter can't get anything done, because he's a Catholic and Obama is not. He can't just call up Obama and say, Send us a hundred trillion zillion dollars!"

"Obama is broke too. Where is he going to get that money?"

"He can just print it up. Obama can print as much money as he wants!"

Wayne claimed to have graduated from college in 1965, studying music, but he couldn't tell me what kind.

"Classical? Jazz?"

"Yeah, yeah, all kinds."



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