“I’ll let you in,” she says. The fact that she doesn’t ask me anymore questions, tells me she knows exactly what’s going on. “Did SJ say when she would be back?” she asks once she unlocks SJ’s door.
“I’m here now.” SJ’s voice travels up the stairwell and then she appears at the top out of breath. “Thank you, Caleb. I’m sorry I put you in that position.”
“What position did you put me in?” I ask a little sharper than intended.
“Was it Ken?” Rita now asks.
SJ nods and then looks around me to make sure the children have gone into the apartment before turning to me. “The twins’ Dad turned up—”
“You’ve told him?” Rita asks with surprise.
“Some of it,” she says and looks to me before turning back to Rita. “I haven’t told him everything yet, but he understands it’s a little dangerous right now,” SJ says to her friend.
“I will put Gur and Raj to bed and then I’ll come over,” she says to SJ. “Mr. Slate, good luck, I hope to see you in one piece in the morning.”
“Caleb,” I remind her and then decide to test Mitch’s warning. “Thank you, Mrs. Phull.”
“Rita,” she snaps and then takes a deep breath. “Rita is fine,” she states more calmly.
“My apologies. Thank you, Rita.” She gives me a curt nod and goes back to her own apartment.
“I should probably go,” I say when SJ and I are alone again.
“Do you want a coffee before you go?” she asks.
“I’m meant to be homeless, SJ, that’s cheating,” I feign sternness.
“Okay, be safe and you know where I am if you need me,” she says nervously.
“I’ll be fine,” I reply and wrap my arms around her, placing a soft kiss on her head.
I make my way to the closed down Thurogood Marshall School, I don’t know why it closed down, but I do know it’s now a dilapidated building that is covered in graffiti and has been destroyed beyond economical repair. I won’t lie, I’m shitting myself a little at what tonight will entail. My plan is to go as unnoticed as possible, make myself invisible and hopefully no one will bother me.
“We got a newbie!” I hear someone shout. So much for being invisible.
Before I know it, I’m surrounded by a group of four men while all the other men and women look on. The four men are relatively smaller than me in height and stature but four against one is never good odds.
“I don’t want any trouble. I was just looking for a place to bed down for the night,” I say, holding my hands up in surrender and hoping they will see I’m not a threat.
“Well you came to the wrong place newbie,” the man who appears to be the leader of this group says.
“I’m sorry. I’ll find somewhere else,” I reply quickly and go to turn around, realizing I’ve now been surrounded. I really should have taken SJ’s warning seriously.
“What you got on you?” the guy behind me asks.
“I don’t have anything,” I answer honestly.
“You telling me you haven’t got any cash or food?” I shake my head at his question. “So what, you thought you’d come here and scrounge of us?”
“No, I just needed a place to sleep.”
“This guy sounds like some sort of leprechaun,” another of the men says and they all laugh. “Take him out.”
The order is shouted and I instantly jump for cover while they circle me like vultures. This isn’t something I can calm down with words or bribes. This really is survival of the fittest and it doesn’t look good for me.
Chapter 11
“Sarah-Jayne, you tell me right now,” Rita orders as she paces my apartment.
“It doesn’t matter. Gary went too far and I was lucky Caleb happened to stop by,” I tell her again.
“What is too far?” she demands. I look away from my friend and wonder if I should tell her what happened.
“He tried to force me to give him a blow job,” I finally say.
“You need to call the police.”
“I can’t be dealing with that, besides Caleb did enough damage to him that he won’t be eating solids for a while and I’m never going back.”
“I told you what would happen if you carried on accepting his help and the free food.”
“I know you did, to be honest I don’t know what got into him. I know he’s always walked the line a bit, but he’s never crossed it like that, He’s never been that angry before.”
“And what about Caleb? Do you think he still wants nothing for all his help?” she asks now and I can’t help jumping to his defense.
“Caleb is nothing like Gary and he sure as hell is nothing like your husband’s father!” I yell, watching my friends face crumple. “Rita, I’m sorry.”
“I try to help you SJ and this is how you treat me. I always warn you, you never listen and then you prove me right. I’m just trying to warn you,” she says and turns toward the door.
“Rita,” I say as I grab her arm. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
She scoffs and shakes my hand off. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she replies and opens the door, gasping at what she sees on the other side. “See, no-one takes my advice.”
I look around the door and see Caleb slumped against the stairwell, blood covering his face and missing several layers of his clothes.
“I didn’t... I didn’t know where to—” he stops as he coughs up a mouthful of blood. “I didn’t—”
“It’s okay,” I say and lean down beside him. “Rita, can you help me please?”
She huffs, but leans down and helps me pull Caleb up. We take him into my apartment and lay him on the couch. Rita goes to the sink and starts filling a bowl with warm water. She comes back with two cloths and the bowl of water, placing them on the floor and turns to Caleb.
“I’m going to wash this blood off so we can assess the damage,” Rita says.
“I can call a doctor,” Caleb croaks back.
“I’m trained in first aid, don’t worry,” Rita replies. “Besides, the homeless don’t have doctors,” she says, causing Caleb to laugh and then wince in pain. “Stay still.”
Rita gets to work washing the blood away to find that luckily, the damage is minimal. The small cut he had on his lip has reopened and he looks like he bit a chunk out of his cheek but most of the blood appears to have come from his nose, which Rita says isn’t broken. She checks over other parts of his body, finding a few grazes and an obvious bruise appearing on his ribs, which again she says aren’t broken.
“You were lucky,” Rita states.
“I don’t feel lucky,” Caleb replies.
“A few minor cuts and bruises, no broken bones, and you’re alive. You’re lucky,” she reiterates.
“Thank you,” he says to her.
“Rest, you fool. Next time, take my advice,” she says, lightly patting him on the shoulder.
“I will,” he grunts and lets his eyes flutter closed.
We tidy up the bloodied mess and then I see Rita out. “Thank you so much,” I say gratefully.
“You’re my friend, SJ, I’ll always be here for you,” she says with a small smile.
“And I’ll try to take your warnings more seriously,” I reply and pull my friend into a hug.
“Goodnight,” she says and goes to let herself out. “Let him sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Rita,” I say just before she closes the door behind her. Turning to Caleb, I take in the sight of his sleeping form. “What am I going to do with you?” I mutter to myself.
“Get me some clothes,” he replies from the couch with his eyes still closed.
“You still have your pants and a t-shirt on, I’ll get you a blanket,” I say and fetch him the spare duvet I use in the winter. “What happened to your coat, sweater, socks, and shoes?”
“Apparently they’re sought after items,” he replies deadpan.
“So, no chance of getting them back then?” I ask, trying not to laugh.<
br />
“Not unless I want to lose the rest of my clothes, no. You know it’s not funny, right?”
“I’m sorry,” I reply, my shoulders shaking in silent laughter. “I know it’s not and I’m glad you’re okay.”
“You’re the worst nurse ever,” he mutters.
“Suck it up, you’re poor and the poor can’t afford nurses.”
“This will be the worst week of my life.”
“Yes it will,” I agree and turn the lights out before making my way to the bedroom. “Yes, it will.”
***
“Mommy!” Maddie’s screech instantly wakes me from my sleep.
“What? What’s wrong?” I ask frantically as I scramble from the mattress on the floor.
“There’s a monster on the couch,” she says shakily, gripping the doll Caleb brought her at Goodwill on Sunday.
It takes a moment for last night’s events to filter into my brain and then I start laughing. “It’s only Caleb, Maddie,” I tell her.
“Why is he on the couch?” she asks.
“He came back last night,” I say, not wanting to go into it anymore.
“Is it because he was bleeding?” she asks.
“How did you know that?”
“He has it on his face,” she says.
I jump from the bed to check on Caleb and find the couch empty, a large blood stain covers the cushion his head was on. “I’m sorry about that,” he says from behind me causing me to jump. I turn around and see him holding tissue against his nose. I assume that’s where the blood came from. “I’ll replace it.”
“Don’t worry about that, are you okay?”
He nods and gives me a small smile. “I love your bed hair,” he chuckles and I run my hands over my hair knowing it probably looks like a birds nest. “Thank you for last night.”
“Thank Rita, she knew what to do. I’m crap in those situations,” I tell him.
“I’ll thank her when I see her,” he replies. “You didn’t have to clean everything up. I would have done it this morning.” I furrow my brow in confusion. “The stairs and hall, I would have done it.”
“I didn’t clean the stairs and hall,” I say just as my front door opens again.
“Caleb, it’s good to see you up,” Rita says as she closes the door.
“Thank you for all your help last night,” he says and she just waves it off.
“Did you clean up last night?” I ask her.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d do something useful.”
“You didn’t have to,” I start.
“It’s fine. SJ. I’m exhausted now though. If I didn’t have all the kids today, I’d sleep now.”
“Why don’t I take care of the children, at least for a couple of hours so you can sleep?” Caleb offers.
“It’s okay, I can take the kids,” I jump in. “No job, remember? Besides, you have poor people things to do,” I remind Caleb.
“Such as?” he asks perplexed.
“How do you think the homeless feed and clothe themselves, among other things?” I ask like it’s an obvious question.
“I’m not begging,” he quips.
“You don’t have to keep anything, you can donate it to charity or give it to another homeless person when you’re done for the day,” I suggest.
“I can’t do that, what if a client sees me?” he asks.
“Tell them the truth,” I reply, slightly agitated that he’s stalling. “You’re doing an experiment, that’s it.”
“I’ll need more clothes,” he states.
“It’s eighty-four degrees out there, you’ll be fine. You can use any money you get today to buy new clothes from Goodwill later,” I explain.
“Of course I can,” he mutters sarcastically under his breath.
***
We get the children ready and leave Rita to sleep in peace. I was going to take the children to the playground, but I’m going to help Caleb get settled first.
“Where are we going?” he asks as we get on the metro. I know Caleb shouldn’t be spending money, but I know that the metro stations in the city are a lot busier and he’s likely to get a better experience.
“Archives metro, there’s a lot of foot traffic at that station. Everything from businessmen to tourists go through there,” I explain.
“Shouldn’t I be playing some kind of instrument or singing?” he asks.
“You can sing if you want,” I say, managing not to laugh. “But I’m sure you’ll get more quarters just sitting there being homeless, unless you can actually sing, in which case it’s fifty-fifty.”
“I can’t sing, so sitting and being homeless it is then,” he laughs.
We pick up a box and I grab the sharpie from my bag, I write on the cardboard and hand it to Caleb.
“Lay the rest of that cardboard on the floor to sit on, we don’t want you catching anything,” I tell him.
“I’m glad you’re finding this funny,” he says with a pout.
“I don’t. If at any point you think I might find this funny, remind yourself that I’ve done this and that I’ve been in this position,” I say and his expression softens.
“I’m sorry,” he replies softly, taking hold of my hand and squeezing it gently. “Okay, wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” all four children shout.
“Thanks guys,” he answers and heads off into the station.
***
As we leave Caleb at the station, I change my mind about taking the children to the playground and head toward the National Mall just across the road.
“So I’m thinking about going to the National Museum of Natural History and depending how long that takes, we can go to the National Air and Space Museum,” I say to the children.
“Museums are boring,” Gurpreet moans.
“They’re not boring, there are loads of thing to see and do,” I say. And it’s all free too!
“What will we see?” Mitch asks.
“Wait and see. I’m sure you’ll love it,” I say, keeping my fingers and toes crossed.
“We’re going to be waiting forever,” Raj moans.
“No we’re not, probably about twenty minutes,” I say and take a flyer from one of the museum workers who is making his way down the line with them. “Let’s plan out what we’re going to do.”
After extensively working out a route through the museum, we make it to the front of the line.
“Do you wish to purchase any IMAX cinema tickets?” the woman behind the counter asks.
“No, thank you,” I reply with a smile that I hope says “we’re here to see the exhibits” and not “I really can’t afford it.” I don’t think it was believable.
“Okay, you can go though those doors there. I hope you enjoy your day,” she says with a smile faker than mine.
We start off in The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals. The hall showcases the famous Hope Diamond and other treasures of the National Gem Collection. As I thought, Maddie absolutely loves this room.
“Mommy, can I have a diamond that big?” she asks.
“Why would you want one that big?” I reply. “It’s a material thing, you don’t need them.”
“One day, I’m going to buy you a diamond like that Mommy,” she says and then stops to think for a moment. “Maybe Caleb will buy you one.”
I almost choke. “What makes you say that?” I manage to splutter.
“He has lots of money, doesn’t he?” she says. “What does he need it all for?”
“That’s his business, Maddie,” I say, beginning to get a little frustrated with her.
“It’s kind of like Cinderella,” she muses. “He loves you Mommy, just like Prince Charming loved Cinderella.”
“Sweetheart, this is real life and not a fairy tale,” I reply solemnly. She looks at me, thinking about what I just said and I can see the cogs working overtime.
“Maybe Cinderella thought the same thing,” she finally says.
“Cale
b’s right, you’re too grown up.” I smile at her fondly. I need to let them be kids—they should not be this philosophical at the age of five.
We continue walking though the museum. The next place we stop was The Hall of Human Origins. The exhibition tells the story of how the human species evolved over six million years. There were more than two hundred and eighty-five early-human fossils and artifacts, lifelike full-size reconstructions of hominid species, and so many interactive experiences to keep the children from moaning about being bored for a while.
“You’re a monkey,” Raj says to Gur.
“You’re a monkey too, you dumbass,” Gur replies.
“Hey!” I say in a stern firm voice, hoping not to attract too much attention. “Cut it out, no one is a monkey. If you actually listened and read the displays you might learn something. We evolved from apes.”
“He’s still a monkey,” Raj replies.
“Stop the back-talking,” I snap and watch the boy recoil. “I’m sorry, but I asked you to stop, so please stop.”
“Yes, SJ,” he answers quietly.
“Sorry, SJ,” Gur adds.
“Let’s move on, okay?”
We visited The Sant Ocean Hall next. It’s a one-of-a-kind interpretive exhibition, which demonstrates how the ocean is connected to other global systems and the daily lives of people around the world. Mitch loved seeing the male and female giant squids that made me squirm, but we all enjoyed seeing an exact replica of a living North Atlantic right whale. It was huge.
We stopped for something to eat at The Atrium Café and I almost had a heart attack at the price. No wonder the museum is free, the cafeteria is where they make their money. Though to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I just hoped it wasn’t going to be too much.
After lunch we went to see the Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution exhibit, where we got an up-close look at how butterflies and plants have evolved and diversified together for millions of years. I found it totally fascinating, the children not so much.
Following that, we went to the one exhibit I really didn’t want to see. The O. Orkin Insect Zoo. There’s a variety of hands on activities and live insects on display that the children loved, while my hairs were standing up the whole time. Just as we were about to leave, it’s time for the daily tarantula feeding that the children insisted on staying for it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. So while I stood as far back as humanly possible, Gur and Raj watched as Maddie and Mitch got up close and personal with the eight legged freak. I finally managed to coax them away and lead them from the insect zoo as quick as their little legs would move.
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