Project Link, a cooperative University-community program, may have found a way to rescue them. Yesterday's spaghetti dinner stains the carpet underfoot. Hot dog buns and a 32-ounce bottle of beer constitute the meal plan for the next several days.
Flies buzz through the unscreened window.
Undone laundry litters the floor. She's oblivious to everything, even the hand-rolled cigarette burning down to the nub and into her fingers. The program is often the last link to reality for some of the city's most troubled people. Visitors Nancy Price and Rob Weisman are unfazed. This mix of misdeeds and mental illness is common.