Dumpster Diving By Moonlight ~ The Weekend Freewrite - 28 Minute Version ~ Original Photography and Original Story About Late Night Findings

in #dumpsterdivinbymoonlight6 years ago (edited)

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~Sometimes, You Just Gotta Finish The Story~



Today's Prompt: The smell of a dumpster


The game was over, and my team WON. Though it had gone on much longer than expected. Overtime in a college basketball game will do that. But I had no complaints. It was a beautiful night for a bike ride, particularly during February in the Northwest.

I pushed my bike pedals harder, trying to get home before the witching hour, when I passed by a brand-spanking new dumpster parked on Oak street. The thing was HUGE. A deep green, building-sized box of heavy steel. Taking up one entire lane of the quiet, residential street.

Looked to me like someone had just moved, and all that was left in the house after the sale of things, had been tossed in from the top. I quickened my pace, to get around the box in case any cars happened by from the other direction. Not likely, as this was one QUIET street in the most posh part of town. Suddenly, my heartbeat took a quick right turn, straight up to the silvery moon in the sky.

DO YOU HAVE A FLASHLIGHT !?”

The voice seemed to be coming from somewhere up in the trees over the street.

Wha-aat ?” I responded, to no one I could see in the inky black night above.

Do you have a flashlight? It's dark in here. There's a whole LOT of really great stuff! Check it out.”

A hollow, kicking sound bonked off the side of the dumpster, followed by a very pert, round face appearing over the top edge of the enormous green junk bin. It was a young woman, grinning ear to ear, and holding something up for me to see in the dark.

Look at THIS. It's a metal dinner tray. How nice is THAT ?!”

I couldn't really see what she was holding up, but by the excitement in her voice, it must have been a very grand dinner tray indeed.

I straddled my bike in the road, and looked up toward her, “I have a bike light. Will that work?"

That'd be GREAT !”



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I tucked my bike in between the dumpster and the sidewalk, away from the street, propping it against a maple tree that umbrella'd the dumpster. I didn't want anyone to 'borrow' my bike, while I was up over the top of the dumpster. My plan was to just sit on the edge, and provide some light for the woman's search down below.

There was a little ladder at the end, so I climbed up onto the thick wall, scooched along on my butt, and took a seat.

You gotta get IN. We're not supposed to be here. Climb in !"

So, over the edge of the box I went. Dropping into the huge pile of household belongings in the bottom of the dumpster. Though 'bottom' is a bit of a mis-nomer. You couldn't see anywhere NEAR the bottom, with all the layers and layers of items that had been deposited within. There was a whole HOUSEHOLD of things in the dumpster. Not gross, yucky garbage, but a bin-full of intact, still-useful items. Just like the young woman had said.

Give me some light. Look, a KEYBOARD! I need one of those for my computer.

She must have been a student at the University. Looked to be about 19 or so, though it was dark, and all I could see was jet black, cropped hair on a rather tall, lanky form, showing forth in the occasional cone of light that was sweeping all around the piles of household castaways. Suddenly, she leaped over to the other side like a feral cat, to grab something at the far end like she was afraid it might get away.

Here, give me some more light. Ooh, a nice shirt. And a wooden box. There's a BUNCH of clothes here. Wonder if they'll fit ?”

I was enjoying her complete abandon and mirth at finding all sorts of new treasures. Her enthusiasm was soon contagious. I started rooting around in the piles in the dark. I figured, if I'm going to be in here as a light source, I might as well find something useful too. Suddenly, a set of car headlights swept over the top of the box from down the street.

GET DOWN !”

She sounded more like a gruff Sargent in a dirt trench in France years back, than a college co-ed. Definitely more of an order, than a request. She must have been highly experienced at this sort of thing, or at least used to it on a regular basis. I crouched next to an old covered ottoman, much like my grandpa had at the foot of his Barkalounger in his den years earlier.

The car passed on by, as we remained invisible in our little world above the street. She spoke up, while pulling something else out of the dark, “A cop went by awhile ago, think we might get in trouble for being in here.” I wondered how many years I could get, for looting someone else' s 'trash' from a green dumpster in a college town. I didn't really want to find out the hard way.



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We proceeded to UN-earth all sorts of classic things in the dumpster. There were many useful items in good shape to find. Clothes, furniture, books, lamps, dishes, cookware...I think you could outfit an entire college dorm with one night of serious digging.

Another set of lights came up the street. “CAR ”, was all she said, before diving into a pile of garbage bags full of clothes and other closet items. We remained UN-discovered, and continued on with our late-night mission.

The young woman had me hold the flashlight for another twenty minutes or so, until we got “into the REALLY good stuff. " Then she took the light, and proceeded to dig deeper and deeper into the layers. I did my best in the dark, but couldn't really see all that well. Finally, I told her I needed to go home, as it was getting rather late. Plus, there was no one at home to bail me out of jail, if I DID get arrested for stealing someones discarded belongings.

She passed the light back to me, gave me a minor hug, then jumped down to her large heap of things tossed out between the bin and sidewalk by my bike. The woman gathered up as much as she could in one armload, thanked me again, then happily wandered away down the street toward home. She half-whispered over her shoulder as she went, "I'll get my roommates to come back tonight and help get the rest." Looking at the pile still down below, I wondered aloud to myself, hope she's got a LOT of roommates.

I waited until she rounded the corner, took a quick look up and down the street, then launched myself back into the huge green box once more with my light. Hoping not ALL of the treasures were completely gone. I figured I had at least a half hour, maybe more, before she and her friends returned.

Rooting around, I soon decided that there is nothing quite like the smell of a dumpster in the moonlight, to keep you happy and content. I am quite sure my new-found friend also felt the same way.

Particularly one filled to the brim, with so much "GOOD STUFF !!"

~Finto~


Weekend Freewrite Post by @mariannewest: Weekend Freewrite


Thanks for stopping in and viewing the story about rummaging around in a dumpster late at night. If you have any thoughts about dumpster diving, the best light for the job after midnight, why these sorts of things are not in a Goodwill bin-rather than the trash, good finds you've made(!!!!), or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.





Please UPVOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW if you enjoy my works.

And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...

Posted: 06/10/2018 @ 18:20



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Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat

Fact Number 75

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Oh, I miss your wonderful stories. I spent a lot of hard days for a while. I'm here after. Now I will read everything you share! And I will enjoy all these stories, my dear friend.
This great fiction writing. spydo bot, is a small gift ..

So glad you enjoy my stories. And sorry you have had hard days lately. Hope it is getting better these days. Thanks muchly as well for the spydobot gift, very nice indeed, I greatly appreciate it. Makes me feel good when folks like to read what I write. Hope your day is a good one. Cheers.

There's nothing like treasure hunting! I especially congratulate you on finding a lanky young woman with black hair in a dumpster, alive and well. What's your secret?

Practice, practice, practice.

Congratulations, your post received 26.26% up vote form @spydo courtesy of @artizm! I hope, my gratitude will help you getting more visibility.
You can also earn by making delegation. Click here to delegate to @spydo and earn 95% daily reward payout! Follow this link to know more about delegation benefits.

Hello spydo!

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Thanks for the very nice vote. I appreciate it and the added visibility. Very nice of @artizm to do that for me.
At the moment I am not delegating, I'm trying to earn as much Steem, etc, so I can give more back to people on the site. It is very fun to reward good content/content creators, and to grow Steemit to where it could one day be. Cheers.

I am back and of course not dissapointed, like I ever though I would be. I love your writing ; by the end of the first paragraph I feel myself dropped into a world of quirky innocence. A world where pies cool on windowsills and an evening event in Summer might be catching lightening bugs in mason jars or chucking things into the old quarry.

One of my favourite things to see and to paint in art is 'Story' and your writing is full of 'Story' and believe me, there is plenty of writing that hasn't an ounce of 'Story'.

I love to be transported by art of all kinds, painting, photography, and writing. You, sir, should be a travel agent in the world of 'Story'.

Glad to see you back. Hard to keep up, isn't it?! I'm also very happy you enjoy my romps through storyland. Thanks so much for the kind, lofty compliment. Means a lot, particularly from an artist/storyteller of your creative acumen. I always enjoy your visuals so, such as lightning bug'd mason jars and 'chucking' things into the quarry. I was there as well. A Story Travel Agent Person. I love it. Never thought of it that way, but very fun to ponder.

So, what did you find ? :)
I love watching dumpster - diving videos on youtube. You never know what they will find. I never tried it because I don't live in a city where I could find anything like furniture.

It was a few years back. Think I found some nice journal blanks, some cookware, and other 'oddments of the fascinating'. It was a new dumpster, not at all dirty, so everything was in good shape, and not 'stinky'.
I am sorry it is not a 'do-able' thing in your city. We have the best second-hand shops (Goodwill, etc) here, of anywhere I have seen in America. I have to stay away, as there is always good things to buy. But SO nice, when you really need something. So much cheaper, and keeps things out of the landfill. And re-use is a huge thing with me.
I've not seen those shows, I'll have to check it out. Have a nice night.

This gave me a lot of laughter the smell of a garbage container and it made me remember that unpleasant smell the trucks that transport the garbage is horrible

I will tell you something that happens to me every day this happens twice a day in the morning and in the afternoon when I go to my work and back I go through several places where the smell is like a garbage container half the way to reach my house has those smell and they are different in coming out of my town it smells like a garbage container later on we find a chicken factory and the smell is dead chickens or I do not know it then it usually smells like a dead animal

Later there is another chicken company a few weeks ago it was a fire and my god the smell is horrible later on you find a ham company a week ago it smells like a garbage dump

Thanks. Though it was not a smelly dumpster at all. Think they use these new ones for household items. Maybe they were going elsewhere?
Sounds like you have a very pungent neighborhood. Do you know this word? The smell of chickens must be rather strong. That dead smell can be a bad odor for sure. I think you need a large motorcycle helmet with a spritzer inside with nice smells like flowers and good old soil, when you walk around ( :

Exciting story! Ha ha! It’s great that you didn’t get into jail due to this.

I couldn’t imagine how’s smell inside the dumpster, but if there are plenty of good stuffs, especially a bunch of clothes, I may love to try to get inside. Ha ha!

Well done, as always, GFF! ;)

Glad you enjoyed my story. I'm always glad to stay out of jail ( :
Most dumpsters can be very bad. But this one was very very clean. Think it was new. I'm sure you would have had fun. Hope you have a nice night, GFF

I’m glad to hear that the dumpster in your story was new! ;D

Have a wonderful day, GFF! ;))))

Hi @ddschteinn! You have received 0.1 SBD tip from @dswigle!

Earn daily income on steem: @tipU distributes 100% profit + 60% curation rewards to all investors.

Thank you, tipster folks with little green bag of coins. Greatly appreciated. And thanks to @dswigle.

Enjoyed your story :) I recently helped a friend of my son clean out a hoarders house in which there was a huge dumpster like that filled many times. We had to wear masks (I only helped a couple hours), but under all of the garbage and rotting this and that, there were real treasures and I did take a few items home with me.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the story. Sounds like a very hard, tough job. Nice of you to help out. It is a very complicated world, and I've read not all that understood by folks trying to study it all. Thanks for stopping in and commenting and voting. I appreciate it. Have a nice day.

Haha! Oh, the dumpster diver!

I need more! More!

Tip!

Sounds like you may have been into one or two yourself? One persons trash is another's treasure. Just no swan dives, the landing is a bit tough. Thanks for the tip, muchly appreciated.

You writing is always a pure joy. Thank you for that.

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