[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

“It shows,” Matt said with some concern. “You look worn-out, Mary, and I know you can’t be
getting much rest at night. Not with a toddler.”
“John’s a good boy, and the kids are great about helping look after him,” Mary said
defensively.
“Yes, but you still have to be responsible for all of them. That includes getting them to and from
practice and games, overseeing homework, listening to problems they have at school,” he said
gently. “That’s a heck of a responsibility for one woman, all by itself. But you’ve got a full-time
job, and you’re spending every night running around Phoenix to restaurants and then distributing
food until late. Even with your energy and strength of will, you must see that you can’t keep this up
indefinitely.”
Until he said it, she hadn’t realized how thin she was spreading herself. She was beginning to
have some chest pain that was unexpected and alarming. She hadn’t mentioned it, thinking that
perhaps if she ignored it, it would go away. But that wasn’t happening.
“I can do it as long as I need to,” she said firmly.
“You’re like me, aren’t you?” he mused, smiling. “You’re stubborn.”
“Yes, I think I am,” she agreed, smiling back. He made her feel young. He was like a sip of
cold water on a hot day. He was invigorating.
“I have ulterior motives, you know,” he commented. “I’m fond of you. I don’t want you to keel
over from stress.”
She was touched. “I promise not to keel over,” she told him.
He signed. “Okay. That will have to do for now. But you really should think about delegating
more. And eventually, you’re going to need some agency to help you oversee the project. It’s
outgrowing you by the day.”
“I don’t even know where to begin,” she said.
“Talk to Bev,” he told her. “She’s been in this sort of work for a long time, and she knows
everybody else who’s involved in it. She may have some ideas.”
“I’ll do that,” Mary promised.
“Meanwhile,” he drawled, “don’t forget Sunday.”
She had forgotten. Her wide-eyed stare made him burst out laughing.
“Well, that puts me in my place,” he said with a grin. “I’ll have to stop strutting and thinking
I’m God’s gift to overworked womanhood.”
She smiled at him. “You’re a nice guy, Matt. I’d only forgotten today. I’d have remembered
when I went home, because it’s all the kids talk about.”
“So I made an impression, did I?”
“A big one,” she agreed. “They like you.”
“I’m glad. I like them. A lot.”
“Speaking of the movies, it turns out Tammy has a prior commitment and can’t watch the baby
after all. Looks like he’d be joining us. Hope that’s okay.”
“No problem,” Matt reassured her.
“Hey, are you guys coming, or what?” Sam called from the parking lot. “We’re running behind
schedule.”
“Sorry, Sam,” Mary said at once, preceding Matt out the door. “Let’s go!”
They had a routine of sorts by now, through the various shelters and homeless camps. People
came out to meet them when they saw the headlights, and there were beaming faces when the smell
of food wafted out of the containers that were presented to the staff for their residents.
“We never had stuff like this to eat before,” one disabled young woman commented to Mary at
the women’s shelter. “You sure are nice to do this for us.”
“You’re very welcome,” Mary said, searching for the right words.
The young woman smiled and walked away to the kitchen as quickly as she could with her
crutches.
“That’s Anna. She has multiple sclerosis,” the shelter manager told Mary quietly. “Usually
she’s in a wheelchair, but it got stolen two days ago when she left it outside the stall in a rest room
nobody noticing!”
a block away.” She shook her head. “Imagine, somebody stealing a woman’s wheelchair and
“How did she get here?” Mary wondered.
“One of our regulars saw her holding on to walls trying to walk. She came back here and
borrowed our spare crutches that I keep in the office for Anna. She’s been using them ever since,
but it’s hard for her to walk with wasted muscles.”
“Is there some sort of program that could get her a wheelchair?”
The woman grimaced. “She’d probably qualify if she could get into the system. That’s the
problem. We have to have a caseworker come here and fill out forms, then there’s a waiting
period, and she might or might not get accepted on the first try. Bureaucracy is slow.”
Mary sighed. “If I had the money, I’d buy her a wheelchair,” she said.
“Me, too,” the shelter manager said quietly.
They exchanged glances.
“No matter how much we do, it’s like filling up a barrel with a teaspoon, isn’t it?” Mary asked.
“There’s so much need, and so few people trying to meet it. Federal and state and local programs
do what they can. But there are limits to any budget, and so many people fall through the cracks.”
“That’s true.”
“I found that out the hard way,” Mary said.
“You?” the manager exclaimed.
“I’m living in a motel room with three kids, holding down a full-time job, six days a week,
sometimes seven, and I do this after I get off, every day,” Mary told her. “Because no matter how
bad things are for me, everybody I meet in these shelters is so much worse off.”
“My dear,” the manager said, lost for words.
“It’s been a learning experience for all of us,” Mary told her. “We’ve learned so much about
human nature since we began this project. And despite our own circumstances, people have just
been so kind to us,” she emphasized. “I never knew how kind total strangers could be until we
ended up like this.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]