My background sheet said “lives with family of five”, although there seemed to me to be a lot more than that. But it was hard to tell. True, I was blinking in the blinding midday sun as it bounced off the South Central streets, so that when someone opened the door and asked me in, I could see little at first.

The house was so dark, with every window covered with heavy drapes, or covering of some kind, it was hard to tell who was there – or how many. The room felt like a tent. There was one source of bluish light – the TV in the corner – and gradually I became aware of people lining the walls, slumped in chairs. I said a general hello, they mostly smiled and nodded – then turned back to their single collective focus.

Through the gloom, Omar emerged from another room and invited me back there. It was his bedroom, marginally lighter than the main room thanks to chinks in the window coverings that seemed to blanket the whole house. I wondered if they were trying to keep out just the light of the sun or perhaps the whole light of the outside world. My chat with Omar suggested the latter.

He was pleasant, but lethargic, almost trance-like. I got the feeling that, not only had he not been outside in some time, but he was barely aware what was out there.

“You go out much?”

“Not much. The doctor sometimes.”

“What do you do with your time?” Even as I asked I already knew the answer.

“Watch TV mostly”.

Confirming the facts on my sheet I said, “You live with your family?”

“That’s right”.

“How many?”

“It depends. People come to visit”.

The vagueness of his answer matched the murkiness of the other room. He probably never thought to wonder how many there were.

Our talk over, my forms signed, we went back through the dark tent, with its one Cyclops eye. As I picked my unsure way over many feet a few heads turned and said goodbye. One said “ – and thank you very much”. A brief hug with Omar, and I stepped from the darkness into the shock of dazzling sunlight – and the outside world.

Back in my car I completed my notes. After the office notation “lives with family of five” I added “approx.”.