Trash
30 minutes – 1w, 2m, one 10-year-old boy or girl, 1 dog
“Tater” Thomas, a Viet Nam veteran whose PTSD has kept him from working a regular job, shows up to work every day as a volunteer picking up litter in his neighborhood. Armed with a metal trash grabber, a keen eye, a supply of hand-carved giveaway bamboo walking sticks, and a heart full of empathy he shows us the treasure that lurks just beneath the surface of even the most seemingly disposable people and things. On this day “Tater” encounters a wise youngster who seems to need a friend, rescues a stay-at-home mom of a severely disabled child whose quiet desperation has turned into helpless panic, and has an altercation with a house painter who may or may not be an undocumented immigrant. “Tater” then travels on down the road, only to meet the tragic yet poetic final moment of his own unexpected fate.
