To Stay or Not To Stay in the Bus…

We know that, had Mary and Greg returned to Rainbow Village after their walk, they'd not have slept in a tent.  The city of Berkeley had established the Village as a place for the homeless to park their vehicles--hence why some refer(red) to it as "Bus Village."  There's a segment of the short film "Deadheads" (posted on YouTube) that may shed some light on pitching tents in and around Berkeley.  At about 4:32 from the beginning, an affable, and clearly resourceful man, talks about his homelessness:

"I'm sort of homeless and I'm really landless.  I got no place to put my teepee, uh...in Berkeley.  I'd like to up in the hills in Tilden, or out on the watershed, and uh...or in the Marina.  But, uh it didn't work, so.  It's against the law.  And I just made this out of corduroy pants from the Free Box in People's Park.  And uh...it's a seven-foot teepee, and uh, all hand-stitched.  And a lot of the clothes I've made are, you know from corduroy pants from Free Box."

Looking at the press-clippings related to the Village from 1985, it seems that the local authorities had been concerned about safety issues and they'd marked out parking spots far enough apart to prevent fires breaking out.  Tents would have been fire hazards.  So Greg and Mary were staying on one of the buses (the Dead On or the Blunder Bus) not in a tent (as Weston Sudduth believed).  And they weren't the only ones staying on those buses.

****

Let's consider the possibility that Mary and Greg took a walk that night because Mary didn't want to return to a bus where someone she now feared awaited her.  Dan Adams testified that during the course of a half hour he witnessed Bo and Mary arguing near the communal sinks at the Village.  To him, Bo sounded "controlling" and Mary "seemed upset and afraid." 

Imagine being a 22 year-old woman.  You've been living a transient life-style on your own for about two months (only returning home for a very brief stop at your sister's to grab some things).  You've traveled across the U.S. to California where you've gradually made your way north, moving rom Ventura to Santa Monica, to Santa Cruz, and now you're in the Bay Area.  You've relied upon the kindness of others to get by, although you've tried to do your share, working here and there when you can.  Of course, you've made new friends, some of whom have turned out to be kind and supportive, while others have turned out to be shady.  Now imagine you're staying in Rainbow Village and one of those shady people you know is now angry at you  (and probably jealous) and either staying in a bus with you, or staying in a bus near you.*  And this person's behavior makes you upset and afraid.  Are you going to want to spend more time around this person, or are you going to try to avoid them as much as you can?  You're likely to avoid them, as best you can, given the circumstances.

Now imagine that you've spent a pleasant day away from Rainbow Village hanging out with friends in People's Park.  The afternoon's coming to an end.  You and bunch of guys with whom you've been hanging out decide to have a little get together later that evening.  You all walk down to the Village and begin to party, drinking beer and smoking pot.  You're the only female in the group, and spending time with guys about your age or a little younger turns out to be a lot better than moving to another gathering and risking having to spend time with the angry, shady guy (and perhaps his shady friend.)  When some in the gathering decide to drive someone home and get more beer and burritos on the way back, of course you gladly go with them instead of staying behind in the Village.  After returning from the beer and burrito run you and a few others hang out for a little bit, and then as the party's breaking up, you have a decision to make.  Do you go back to the bus, or do you delay doing so for as long as you can because angry, shady guy might still be awake?  Do you go back to the bus or spend time in the company of one of the nice young men with whom you've spent a good day?

I don't need to imagine Mary and Greg hooking up in order to put together a reasonable account of why Mary may have hung out with Greg and the other guys on the night of August 15/16.  It may have been the case that hanging out with them was far better than hanging out with someone who upset her and made her afraid.  Mary may simply have wanted to avoid the angry, shady guy (and perhaps his shady friend too) as much as she could.

*One should consider the possibility that Mary started out staying on one bus, but after the argument, she moved to the other.