Derelict friend in Patinkin column

An old friend of mine - whom anybody might judge on first impression

    as  an eccentric  derelict - " Emo "  Hovannesian of 327 Dexter St., South

    Providence  -  tells me that  his plight will be the subject of a Mark

    Patinkin column  tomorrow.

        I have before me the letter  Mayor Cianci sent him informing him

    that his very humble abode will soon be demolished in the interest of

    " neighborhood improvement  ". He and his 25 or 30 cats may soon be

    homeless. He spends a big chunk of his paltry social security income

    just to keep his " family " fed.

        Emo's Armenian family once owned oil wells in czarist Russia. He

    has or thinks he has a compensation claim on the present " democratic "

    government.

         I met Emo  way back in 1970 in the former Armando's Bar in downtown

    Providence. He was the friend of another friend who now and  then -hung over

    - slept in  my bathtub in that squalid  rooming house on North Main St.

    The " Welfare Blues Days  " !

           Emo - gifted in math - has a reputation for being a smart gambler.

    But tonight I loaned him a dollar for coffee.

         People  seeing him  in downtown Providence may think  he is  our

    answer to Ratso Rizzo  ( the  Dustin Hoffman character in " Midnight

    Cowboy " ) .

       When they are demolishing his home, he wants us to hear his defiant

    shout :  " I'm here !  I'm here !  "

       Emo is one of the few people in Providence with home I can discuss

    philosophy and higher mathematics. I hope people don't think that Mark

    Patinkin fabricated him. He is as REAL as I am !