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On a sloped dirt hillside 20 feet from the sidewalk. No parking on the street, you have to use side streets around the area and walk down to it. Rated higher in difficulty because of muffle traffic. This is a cache about a neighborhood's rememberance of a man that lived here for many years.
Regular size cache, roughly 7" X 9" with Geocoins, Travel Bugs, buttons, trinkets in a plastic locking clear container.
A memorial cache of sorts, dedicated to "Jesus Man." From afar, his shredded clothes looked like robes. Up close, his dark hair and beard, handsome features and stunning blue eyes looked like the image on a prayer card. This man was homeless and rejected help or handouts from everyone he came into contact with. He passed away near this cache in the bitter cold of winter.
Nearly a dozen neighbors wrote letters. "I don't know how you died. I don't know when you died," one of them read. "I'm sure you didn't know me or remember me or anything like that, but I knew you. I've know you for years and years. Now I realize you're not alone. You never were. You have an entire neighborhood that cares about you."
People would offer the change in their pockets...
"No!" he would shout..and start to cry. He put his hands to his dirt-streaked face, and the tears would run down his hands and you could see the dirt coming off.
People that saw him they walked kept a respectful distance...He never smiled. He rarely looked up. But over time, when some would wave to him, he would wave back.
Neighbors often called police when they saw him walk by in tattered clothes, hoping police could help if neighbors couldn't...but as much as the officers offered the man rides to a shelter or a hot meal and change of clothes, the man would yell him away. "Unless they get to the point they ask for help or threaten to kill themselves, there's not a whole lot we can do," Officers would say. People would leave clothes or money near his sleeping place...one person even left a light blue blanket..he never touched any of it.
Officers were dispatched to the Bascom Avenue hillside on Dec. 18, a frigid morning when passing motorists noticed the uncovered body. The man's feet were swollen and bare. Another man stood on the sidewalk crying. He was the one, he told the officer, who had left the light blue blanket.
The body was taken to the Santa Clara County coroner's office. An official there wouldn't reveal how they identified him or who his next of kin was. He died of dehydration with renal failure after his kidneys shut down. He was one of 82 homeless people who died in Santa Clara County last year.
I worried about him a lot. I thought, 'My God, is no one caring?'
People were.
When we returned to the encampment,we were surprised to find that someone had left a funeral wreath leaning against the old privet tree and a banner with a poem. What had looked like trash scattered around the base of the hillside was actually letters splotched by rain and mud. Neighborhood teens returned with a letter decorated with a hand drawn peace sign and the name "Jesus Man" scripted across the top. They wrote how they admired his independence and strength, how they would miss him, how he wouldn't be forgotten. They also brought a plastic bag to protect all the letters, and pinned it to the tree.
Over the past months, rain had seeped in, running the ink and sticking the pages together. On an early spring day, the teenagers returned to the encampment and gently pulled them apart to make out the words.
"I hurt thinking of your suffering. I will miss seeing you in your daily trek. Your spirit and grace enriched me. Thank you," read one. It was signed "Mark."
Two of the newer notes expressed the guilt and helplessness the teenagers also struggled with: "I came to bring you clothes. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," one said. "I'm sorry I didn't do more for you in this life," read another.
So many people cared about him, and we didn't know what happened. There's some sort of bond between us all...show some kindness, please.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[tree.]