Weekly Rentals - John Michael

John Michael.

Deb, the manager of the motel, had told me a lot about John, before I had even ventured to his room.  For one, he is an alcoholic and in her words is 'drinking himself to death'.   The other story that she told me repeatedly is from when he was living in the guest home across the street.  The guest house is part of the motel property but can legally allow for long term residents.  John was living there for awhile and people had gotten used to his routine.  One day some of the residents realized they hadn't heard or seen John in a few days, and they were starting to get concerned.  So Deb checked on him and found him on the floor in rough shape and called for an ambulance.  He spent some time in the hospital.  During that time, there was a major fire in the guest house.  Deb thinks that if he hadn't been hospitalized he probably wouldn't have made it out.

John is wheelchair bound and spends most of his days drinking, and watching movies on AMC.  He can often be seen making a regular trip to the liquor store a block away.  Residents joke that it takes him three hours.

He has been in his current motel room for over a year.  He used to live in Florida and worked as a computer repair technician.  He also spent some time as a farmer in upstate New York.  He moved to the Cape with his wife but things didn't work out, and ended in divorce.  He does have adult children but they don't live in the state and he doesn't see them often.

For food he receives meals from the local Meals on Wheels program, and sometimes from concerned neighbors.  Deb has removed the curtain to his back window so that she can check on him from the office.  If she doesn't see his silhouette in the window for more than a day then she will head down to his room and check on him in person.  She doesn't want him to die in the motel.

If he is forced out of the motel he thinks he will probably end up in a shelter.  He wants to move to the motel across the street that has been turned into condominiums, but isn't sure if that will ever happen.