Nov 17, 2010, Vol: 17, No: 46
Sleeping on the streets of Seattle was cold and miserable. But Nancy was terrified of staying inside.
She had tried going to a shelter before. But at 66 and newly homeless in the wake of a divorce, she was hearing voices in her head that wouldn’t let her rest. They told her to sleep outside at a bus stop or they would kill all the babies in the world.
The delusion drove Nancy out of the shelter. But it didn’t make the streets any warmer. One night she went into a Fred Meyer store and tried to steal a blanket. Police arrested her and she spent a year in a mental ward at Western State Hospital before standing trial.
Today, Nancy
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