Sherry McMillan sat in her truck in a McDonald’s parking lot on Pandora Avenue on Thursday, afraid to get out, scared of what she might find.
Finally she stepped down from the truck and tentatively walked past the tents dotting the street. She said hello to some people and tried to give space to others who were slumped over, some twisted and catatonic.
As one man flailed on the ground and another screamed, she crossed the road to head back up the other side.
The trip seemed futile.
The last time the Kelowna woman had seen a photo of her son, he was in a Crime Stoppers post. The last time she heard from him was February. Before, McMillan could always count on a call every Mother’s Day. “But on Mother’s Day 2023, there was nothing.”
One of his two younger sisters living in Saskatchewan — where their father also lives — phoned Victoria police to make a missing person’s report. Police told her they had had dealings with her brother. They told the family his street name is Skittles and suggested the family search Pandora Avenue.
On Tuesday, McMillan arrived from Kelowna to empty her son’s storage locker. It had been almost three years since he slipped back into addiction, lost his job and housing, and walked out of detox.
He was supposed to pick up the contents of the storage locker on Jan. 21, 2021, but he never did. His father had been paying the monthly rent ever since.
