Laura's Big Win (23 page)

Just as they were doing the final
loading, Roger called back one more time. “In case you were
thinking about dessert, although I don’t know how anyone is going
to eat any after one of those steaks, a friend of mine is going to
bring some by later in the day. Just thought I’d let you know. And
I’ll pick up some hamburger patties as well; I’m sure the little
kids don’t want to deal with a big steak; they’d rather go play.
Anyway, see you in a little while. Oh…..Cal and his family will be
with us also; he sounded pretty excited about it.” And with that,
he was off the line.

Laura was impressed with the load-out.
The guys had actually managed to load the very heavy volleyball
standards, and the net, all of which wasn’t much of a strain for
the big trailer but a good load for a couple of people to handle.
Fernando had returned with Ernie and Vickie, and helped the guys
carry out the coolers filled with steaks, and the other food items.
Dennis would drive, since he looked more at home on the big
tractor, while Franz would ride the trailer and try to keep
everyone safely inside.

“Okay, last call for a potty break.
Everybody ready?” Four small bodies raced for the bathroom, just in
case. Laura, suddenly remembering the call from Roger, had a quick
chat with Dennis while they waited for the kids, then with everyone
in place and seated, the big blue tractor roared to life, down the
lane, through the gate, and onto the open road. One of the things
Franz had never been able to accomplish with the machine was to
cure it of one small ill that, while it didn’t seem to affect the
way it ran, took getting accustomed to. Every so often the engine
appeared to belch, and would blow a big puff of black smoke out the
tall stack; it was a sight to behold, and the kids simply loved it,
however disconcerting it may have been to Franz. The flashing amber
light high in the air above the trailer served as adequate warning
to approaching vehicles, although the big machine and the hazard
warning on the tail gate would be pretty hard to miss. Along the
way to the heart of town and the shelter, Dennis made a short
detour past the local soft drink distributor; Roger’s call to Laura
had been to tell her he had called in a favor from the distribution
center’s owner, and drinks were awaiting them. Pulling into the
dock area, the men loaded the two big coolers onto the trailer,
straining with the weight of the boxes full of drinks and ice
chips. Then, back on the road and on to the shelter. Dennis knew
the area well enough to know he could cut through the alley, then
swing into the parking lot beside the old hotel, leaving plenty of
room for the cookers, coolers, volleyball net, and whatever else
they brought. Roger, Cal and their wives were there waiting for
them, as was the totally amazed Angie Costello. If Angie recognized
anyone in the group, Dennis stood out in her mind from their one
previous meeting. She had watched him scoop up Amanda as they were
leaving the shelter; that one act had stayed in her mind a long
time.

Had it been a little less organized,
the event could have been mistaken for a small riot. People from
the shelter had not really been told what was to take place; Angie
just could not believe this was going to happen, even as much as
she wanted to trust Laura, but here all of them were. Dennis
muscled the rusty gate of the parking lot closed to keep curious
onlookers out, and the guys started unloading and setting up the
cooking line and the volleyball court. Angie announced on the PA
dinner would be in the parking lot in a couple of hours, but she
needed some help carrying tables and chairs. People who minutes
before had no spark of interest or energy, down on their luck, or
just depressed with their condition in life, were suddenly given a
chance to do something, however briefly, for their own good, and
they took the bait. Introduced all around, Angie remembered Laura
and the kids from their one brief encounter.

“I just can’t believe this is
happening. Are you sure this is for real, there’s no catch to it,
no hidden camera or something like that?”

“Nope, nothing like that. As soon as we
can get things just a little organized and the cookers heating,
we’ll have a chat about how this happened. In the meantime, I think
the guys could use a little direction setting things up so the line
can move along easily. They do great with eating, not so good with
the “how to” end. If you work with them, I’ll see what else needs
done. Okay?”

“Deal, even if I can’t believe this.”
Angie could see the problems developing with the food line and
hurried over to make some adjustments. Working with Dennis while
the other men unloaded and set up the volleyball court, she showed
him where things should go so people could serve themselves a
little easier. Laura watched out of the corner of her eye when she
could, amused at the incongruous matchup between the extra large
Dennis and the medium small Angie.

“Okay, Dennis, we need to set up two
steak lines if we can. I know there aren’t that many people here,
but believe me, when the serving starts, it’s gonna be like a
stampede. Some of these people haven’t seen a meal like this in a
year or two, maybe more. Okay?”

“Yes ma’am. Where would you like this?”
Dennis had simply picked up one of the large cookers at arm’s
length and was waiting to reposition it according to her wishes.
Admittedly, he was a little taken with this woman he had just met,
her small stature compared to him somewhat fascinated him, but
mostly it was because she talked to him not like a big, dumb jock
but as another human being.

Floored by his raw power, Angie could
only point to the location for the grill until she could gather her
wits a bit. “Jeez but you’re strong. Do you work out a lot or
something?”

“No, not so much anymore, just hard
work at my job keeps me going I guess.”

Laura had worked her way back through
the assemblage in time to hear the vocal exchange. “He’s an ex pro
football player, you know. Aren’t you Dennis?”

“Are you really? I should have guessed,
all those muscles. What position?”

“Lineman mostly, wherever they needed
me, but it was more semi-pro than the big time stuff, and my knees
couldn’t take it anymore. Do you watch football?”

“I do, I just love it, but you know, I
know there’s stuff about it I just don’t understand. I mean, all
those little hand signals the coaches give, and then there’s the
zebras running around all over the place. Things like
that.”

“Maybe…..we could watch a game together
so I could explain some of that. Maybe?”

“I think that would be great. Right
now, I have to do a couple of other things whether I like it or
not. We’ll talk about it a little later for sure, okay?”

“Okay. Find me.”

“You can count on it.”

Dennis found himself in a mental jam.
He wanted so badly to ask this woman out to his place, but he
thought it might be awkward with Franz around, and he just couldn’t
ask Franz to stay away. That wasn’t right either since they shared
the quarters. What to do? Maybe, he thought, he should ask Franz;
they had been roommates for a while and had few secrets. Dennis
knew he wanted a couple of cold beers very badly right then, but
decided his own courage would have to do. With things pretty well
set up and volleyball underway, Dennis located Franz and took him
aside for a moment.

“Look, buddy, I got a real problem here
and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want trouble between us, but
Angie’s a real doll and I ain’t gettin’ any younger you know. I
want to ask her out to the place, but she might feel a little
strange being there with the two of us; you can see my
problem.

“Yeah, I can see the problem. I got the
same deal with Bernice over at the hardware store. I know she likes
me, and I think maybe she’d go out; I just haven’t had the guts to
say anything to her…..Wait a minute. You remember that old thing
about strength in numbers? How about this: we both take the plunge,
and invite them out to our place for pizza and beer tomorrow
afternoon? I could call Bernice now. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay, make the call. Man I’m
nervous; I never was before a game, even a big one, but this…it’s
all different. Lemme know what she says. Maybe the girls would like
to talk to each other; they seem to do that a lot on
television.”

And so it went, but in the end four
people met in the carriage house loft at Windmere for pizza and
beer, not necessarily in that order. It would become a weekly
event, and in the course of time, a lot more.

After the brief comment about Dennis,
Laura had continued to move around making sure things were going
well. Everyone was doing their job, the grills were heating, drinks
were being distributed, and two food lines set up. Things were
coming along well and she was getting a really good feeling about
all this, Roger has been well pleased with the idea and everyone
had jumped in quickly. The people at the shelter could hardly
believe their good fortune, and Laura made sure they knew it was
because Angie had welcomed Laura and the kids when they needed
help. Laura sort of glossed over the fact that they had not
actually stayed even one night in the shelter; it seemed to her
that was more information than anyone really needed to know.
Besides, she had just seen something else she wanted to look into.
Sitting on an old park bench that was a permanent part of the
parking lot was a fairly young looking girl; she seemed a little
withdrawn from the rest of the crowd, not in any hostile manner,
just somewhat left out of the activity. Laura made her way over to
the girl to see if maybe she just needed a better invitation to
join in the activities, and discovered why she was sitting by
herself, the nursing baby concealed in a blanket so as to be nearly
invisible. Neat trick Laura had done herself when it was feeding
time and she was out in public, but this girl looked more like she
needed a friend at the moment.

“I’m Laura; mind if I sit a
minute?”

“Whatever. It’s a public
bench.”

“Beautiful baby. Boy or girl?” Laura
was determined to draw this girl out a little and find out why she
was at the shelter.

“Boy.”

“How old?”

“Ten days, that’s about how long I’ve
been in this place, not that it matters.”

“It matters to me, and I was only here
one day, with my kids, a few months ago.”

“Naw, you couldn’t have been. I see
your clothes and your friends. Somebody said you were doing all
this for the shelter; you couldn’t have been in here, not
you.”

“Doesn’t matter what I look like today.
About six months ago I was sitting here like you, wondering what
happened, when some nice people came along and helped me out. If
you tell me your story, maybe I could help you out in turn. How
about it?”

“I don’t think so; nobody can help me,
anyway nobody wants to; that’s how I got here; nobody
cares.”

“Okay, maybe that’s fine for you, but
what about your baby? Doesn’t his father care what happens to
him?”

“Hell no. You think I’d be here if that
bastard cared? When I told him I was pregnant he told me to get
lost or get an abortion, it was all my fault somehow, and then when
I wouldn’t get an abortion he said if I tried to get child support
he’d take my baby away. My folks let me stay there ‘til he was
born, then my dad said he didn’t want his slut daughter around, he
was ashamed of me, and put my things on the front step. So, there,
do you know enough now? Satisfied?”

“No, but don’t be angry with me. I
didn’t get you into this, and I may be able to help you get out of
it, at least a little. If you don’t care about yourself, at least
you could care about your baby.”

“I do care about him, I just don’t know
what to do and nobody wants to help me and I’m
afraid…..”

Laura put her arms out and the young
woman leaned into them, tears streaming and sobs wracking her body,
all the while her baby happily nursed along oblivious to the
ongoing trauma. When things has subsided a bit, Laura leaned back
and looked at the child with child. “Okay, now that we have that
out of the way, talk to me, name, age, things like
that.”

Reddened eyes still weepy, she started
in: “Les, Leslie really, Leslie Friend, I turned 20 last week. I’m
sorry for talking so mean to you; it’s just that nothing has gone
right about the last nine months…..”

And the story finally came out. Les had
graduated from high school in Conyerville at 18 and wanted to
become a paramedic. With no funds available from her parents, she
had hired on at a cleaning firm to work nights, earning enough
money for tuition at the community college to carry a couple of
courses a semester and still have time for the homework. All had
gone well the first year; the second year she had been assigned to
a different building, one with a lot of professional offices. An
impressionable young girl, she was seen by a lawyer in his early
30’s as a fairly easy mark, easy to impress with his expensive suit
and some expensive gifts, and it wasn’t long before she believed
she was in love with him. He even engendered her sympathy with his
“frigid wife” story, in spite of his three children, and how he was
going to divorce her. Someone more experienced would have read him
like an open book, but Les was young, and inexperienced, and
eventually pregnant. Her mother was sympathetic, her father was
not. Her lover wanted only for her to go away and not rock his
little boat. With no place to turn, she was in the shelter where at
least she could find food and a roof for her baby, but not a lot of
hope. She was nursing because she really did believe that was best
for her baby, and, she simply couldn’t afford formula anyway. She
wanted to continue working after delivery, but the company wouldn’t
let her take her baby along, and without a job, she couldn’t afford
child care; Leslie Friend had learned the true meaning of “between
a rock and a hard place”, but she had just met Laura
Nessing.