Believe Like a Child (23 page)
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lessa and Lucy moved to their corner of the room and started pulling food from the bag. The others looked on as the girls ate, their pot-induced appetite increasing by the sight of food.
Crystal walked over to them and demanded, “You gonna share any of that?”
Alessa reached into the bag and gave her a half-eaten deli sandwich they had fished out of the dumpster behind a restaurant. Crystal took it without thanking them and turned back to Rock.
“Come on, Rock,” she said, “lets go score some beer.”
As the couple descended the stairs, others in the room were moving toward Alessa and Lucy to see if they could get some food for themselves.
After three days in the abandoned house, the girls were beginning to settle in. They were surrounded by thugs and drug addicts, but for the most part, no one bothered them. At night, to keep Lucy warm, Alessa would let her sleep with her small freezing cold hands resting against her back. By day, the girls worked the streets. They had earned 40 dollars from begging. Every night, when they returned to their new home, they brought back food other people had thrown away.
On their fourth night there, Crystal and Rock came into the room as they sat eating. Approaching them in a belligerent manner, Crystal barked, “Whatcha got for me to eat?”
Desperately wanting to make a connection, Alessa told her what was left in the bag. Crystal and Rock took a half-eaten chicken and a loaf of stale bread. Then they retreated to their own corner without uttering another word to the two girls.
The next day, while looking for food, Lucy asked, “Alessa, why do we keep giving Crystal and Rock food? They’re never nice to us and they don’t bring anything back to share with us.”
Feeling a little foolish, Alessa replied, “I’m hoping they will eventually become our friends and we can hang out with them. I mean, they don’t seem so bad, right? At least, they don’t bother us. And Crystal hasn’t been that mean to us since we started sharing our food.”
“But that’s not how it works!” the child retorted, agitated.
“Everybody
should contribute, not just us!”
“I know, Lucy, I know,” was all Alessa could say in response.
That night, it started snowing hard. The weather was calling for ten inches. Lucy and Alessa had done all that they could to find extra food to keep them going for a couple of days, in case they were snowed in. Back at the house, there were more people than usual this time. The house regulars complained it was because of the storm. The girls nestled into their corner and ate their dinner.
Before they were done, four girls entered the bedroom. Alessa hadn’t seen them before. Dressed in black, they all appeared hard as nails. Tattoos snaked over every visible inch of their bodies and their faces and ears were decorated with multiple piercings.
The newcomers immediately walked over to Alessa and Lucy and stood over them. The girl who looked the meanest was missing several teeth and was about fifty pounds overweight. She wore a fake black leather jacket and her hair was cut close to her head. Large, flashy rings adorned her fingers.
She kicked Alessa’s shin and commanded, “Give us your food, motherfucker!”
Annoyed at the intrusion into what they considered their home now, she said, “Go find your own food. This is ours. We walked the city all day to get this.”
The girl burst out laughing and appeared to turn away, but without warning, she whipped back quickly and snatched the bag of food from Alessa.
When Alessa stood up, a reflexive gesture of self-defense, rather than a threatening one, the girl pushed her back to the floor. The others in the room watched the scene unfold. It was common for homeless people to fight over food and liquor, but many of them felt sorry for Alessa and Lucy now, because the girls had shared their food with others. Still, none of them uttered a word in their support. Crystal watched as well. She didn’t like Alessa, but she didn’t hate her anymore either. Alessa and Lucy had turned out to be harmless and they did know how to find food.
The four girls proceeded to drink and smoke pot with the others. They made their way around the house. Everyone knew they were what the homeless called “DBs” or “destitute bullies”. The homeless had nothing, but the DBs took out the anger they felt over their lost lives on all the other homeless people. DBs were the worst of their kind on the streets. When they didn’t get their way, they usually resorted to violence. Alessa had heard about them and knew these girls were a part of this sick crowd. Realizing that they could seriously hurt her or Lucy, she retreated into her corner and tried to get the child as warm as she could that night. Crystal had watched Alessa’s interaction with the DBs and was impressed that she had portrayed no fear of this gruesome bunch.
By morning, there were twelve inches of snow on the ground. Lucy was hungry when she woke up, but there was no food left from the night before. She was also eager to go out and play in the snow, but Alessa couldn’t let her get her only warm clothes wet. All of the homeless stayed inside the “abandominium,” their term for the abandoned home they shared. For most of the people there, the snowfall was like a signal for an instant party. They drank and smoked all day long. Some of the older people gave Alessa and Lucy small portions of food they had stashed away, which was enough to keep them going until the streets cleared and they could get out and scout for food in dumpsters.
L
ucy had been whining most of the day. Alessa assumed it was because she had been prevented from going out and playing in the snow. But as the evening wore on, she started coughing. Soon, she was burning up and shaking violently from fever-induced chills. Crystal watched as Alessa tried everything to keep the child warm. Finally, she walked over and handed her a couple of blankets. Another regular at the “abandominium” gave her an aspirin, which Lucy was able to swallow only after several attempts.
During the rest of the evening, the group went out of its way to help the child. The men and women there covered her with their coats and melted snow to make sure she had enough fluid to drink. The next morning, the fever hadn’t broken.
Crystal approached Alessa. “Listen,” she said urgently, “I know this doctor a couple of blocks away, who will give you antibiotic samples. Maybe you could take your kid there to get some?”
Alessa was grateful for any help she could get. “Yes!” she agreed. “Will you take us there?”
Wrapping Lucy in several blankets, she followed Crystal out of the house, carrying the child.
When they got to the doctor’s office a few blocks away, Crystal led them inside.
The receptionist looked up from her computer. “Uh oh! What did you do now, Crystal?” she asked.
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she noticed the small bundle of torn, dirty blankets that Alessa was holding in her arms. She called for the nurse and within minutes, the three of them had been whisked into one of the examining rooms.
The doctor Crystal had mentioned entered the room, introduced herself and directed Alessa to remove all the blankets. The woman felt a rush of pity when she saw the small, filthy child, weak and burning with fever. She conducted a thorough examination of Lucy before turning to Alessa.
“Well, it looks like Lucy has the ‘flu,” she announced. “She will need some medication and complete bed rest. She needs lots of fluid too.” Then the doctor addressed Crystal. “I have some medication samples I can give her, but she needs to be in a warm, dry place for at least the next three days.”
Clearly annoyed, Crystal said, “What the fuck are you lookin’ at me for, Doc? She ain’t my kid.”
“I’m looking at you because I know how resourceful you are. And I think these two can use a little help. So like I said, the child needs to be in a warm, dry place for at least three days.”
Crystal stomped her foot like a child. “Yeah, fine,” she grumbled. “We’ll work it out.”
The doctor turned to the nurse and asked her to get three blankets. Moments later, she returned with three clean pink ones. The doctor wrapped Lucy in them and gave the old blankets to Crystal.
“Okay, now Lucy, you should be feeling better soon,” she told her patient. Then she turned to Alessa. “I want to see her back here in three days.”
Alessa was relieved to know it was only the flu, but she was beside herself with anxiety as she wondered how she would keep Lucy in a dry, warm place for three days. She assured the doctor she would pay her back for the office visit, but the woman shooed her off.
“I don’t want you to worry about money,” she told her. “If you or your daughter are sick, you come back to see me. Okay?”
They left the office together and back on the street, Crystal asked, “You got any money saved? “
Alessa told her that she had 100 dollars.
“Well,” Crystal mused. “I know this motel not far from here. They charge 50 dollars a night. Sometimes, my johns would take me there. We’d fuck and they’d let me stay there overnight. Anyway, you can go there, I guess.”
Alessa was happy that Crystal had thawed enough to want to help, but she still didn’t have enough money to pay for the motel for three nights. The two girls walked the five blocks to the motel, with Lucy in Alessa’s arms. When they arrived, Crystal walked into the office and told them she needed a room for two days.
The man behind the counter scanned the three girls. Alessa was carrying Lucy wrapped in the blankets.
“Listen,” he snapped, “I won’t have any of that child porn here, you understand me?”
Alessa felt the blood rush to her face, a combination of embarrassment that someone could actually think that of her and anger, because the prick had just accused her of being a pedophile.
She spoke up and her voice was soft, but with a hint of steel. “No sir,” she said, “we don’t do shit like that. My sister is sick and the doctor said she needs to rest up for a few days.”
The man pushed the room key toward Crystal and said, “That’ll be a 100 dollars.”
Alessa handed Lucy to Crystal. Then she unzipped her coat and went through multiple layers of clothing. She opened the safety pin attached to the shirt against her body and removed a small cloth bag that contained the only money she had. She handed the man 100 dollars and picked up the key from the counter.
Seeming to soften just enough so that he appeared halfway human, he said, “Here, it looks like you’ll need this.” He pushed a large plastic bag in Alessa’s direction. It contained miniature versions of soap, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste.
Alessa picked the bag off the counter, turned on her heel and left. The hotel’s exterior looked like it had withstood an earthquake. The stucco was cracked and missing in places, exposing the cinderblocks. There were seedy-looking vehicles parked at many of the doors, including a couple of old Cadillac’s and rusted-out pickup trucks. One car had so much duct tape on it, it seemed as though it was the only thing holding the vehicle together.
The parking lot was covered with snow and Alessa figured it would probably stay that way until it melted on its own. She walked up to her motel room and unlocked the door. The heater in the room had been turned down low and she immediately turned the fan on full blast. There were two double beds in the room. The walls were cinderblock, painted a very pale blue, and the rug was brown. The furniture was old and mismatched. The chairs had fake wood seats and thin chrome legs. The folding table pretended to be a desk. Suspended from fake gold chains, tacky lighting fixtures hung over it and the broken nightstands.
Alessa pulled the covers down on the first bed and carried out a quick inspection. It seemed clean enough, though she did notice long black hairs on the pillows and knew at once that these weren’t fresh sheets. That didn’t matter, though, after sleeping in a dilapidated, abandoned home with no plumbing or any other amenity. Compared to that, this place felt like the Ritz. She had Crystal put Lucy down on the bed and the two covered her with the blankets. Alessa gave her a dose of her prescribed medication, then went into the bathroom and filled the tub with warm water.
Once that was done, Alessa carried Lucy into the bathroom, undressed her and placed her in the tub. Even through her fever and sickness, Lucy managed to relax when she felt the warm water flow over her body. It was as if she were thawing out for the first time in weeks. When Alessa had finished washing her, she wrapped her in the hotel towels that were scratchy and tissue-paper thin, but felt like a sheath of the richest cotton to Lucy who hadn’t had a real towel on her body in months. Alessa dressed the little girl in an old sweat suit and put her back into bed.
All this while, Crystal had been lying on the other bed, watching television. This was something she hadn’t done in a long, long time and she was transfixed with the Price Is Right. But she peeled her eyes off the screen for a quick minute to ask, “How about if I go to the mini mart at the end of the block and get some juice for her to drink?”
Relieved to have Crystal there with them, she readily agreed and thanked her. While she was gone, Alessa treated herself to a hot shower, washing away months of filth and grime.
When Crystal returned with the juice, Alessa immediately poured some and helped Lucy to sit up so she could drink it. She turned to Crystal.
“You know, if you want to take a shower, you can,” she offered.
The girl’s face lit up and for the first time since they had met, Alessa saw her smile. She was missing many teeth on both sides of her mouth, but she still had a nice smile.
When Crystal emerged from the bathroom twenty-five minutes later, wrapped in a towel, she looked completely different. They all looked different with the dirt washed away and their hair clean and combed.
“Thanks, that felt real nice,” Crystal said. “Ain’t nothing like washing the funk from your body.” She laughed. “I might be able to pick up some johns while I’m still clean.”
Pensive for a moment, Alessa said, “You know, if you want to stay here with us for a couple of days, you can. I mean, we have two beds. I can sleep here with Lucy and you can have the other bed.”
“You fuckin’ with me?” Crystal snapped. “Don’t fuck with me ’cause I don’t like being disappointed!”
Alessa put her hand to her forehead, as if to indicate that the other girl was giving her a headache. “No, I’m not fucking with you,” she said wearily. “I said you could stay.”
Confident that Alessa was being sincere, Crystal relaxed. “Yeah,” she said, “that would be great! I’ll see to it I get the extra fifty bucks for the last night and a little to spare, so we can eat.”
Alessa knew that Crystal was going to hook herself while she was at the motel and all cleaned up. They both knew how to make money when they really needed to. Alessa had given hooking some thought too; she knew that she could sell herself for the three days she was here and have enough money to extend their stay. She tucked the thought of prostituting herself in the back of her mind, knowing she could pull it out and act on it, if needed.
Alessa got into bed next to Lucy. For the next two hours, they watched television in silence. For dinner the first night in the motel, Crystal went out and bought them a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. She and Alessa ate well that night, while Lucy only managed to nibble on a chicken leg.