Laura's Big Win (6 page)

The shelter did turn out to be an old
hotel, better than sleeping in the open but not by much. Finding
the night super, Angie Costello, Laura told her their plight, how
they were virtually penniless with no place to stay and a relative
that had turned them down. Angie had heard a lot of stories and was
not particularly impressed by this one since it sounded like a
familiar refrain, but she did have a room adequate for the three of
them. She also had some rations left in the kitchen to tide them
over, but she had to point out the building problem they had just
encountered.

“Our central air never did work very
well, and this afternoon during this heat wave it just stopped
working entirely. I’m sorry; I know you’ve had a tough day already,
but we just do not have the funds to get it fixed right now. The
best I can do is get you cots and you can stay in the day room on
this floor. At least there’s a little breeze through the windows.
It’s taking its toll on all of us. Can you live with the cots for
at least tonight?”

“Sure, we’ll make do. I’m sorry to be
such a bother; things have just not gone well for us the past day
or so, and to tell the truth, I really don’t know what to do next.
Maybe a night’s rest will bring some new idea. Thanks so much for
what you’ve already done. I didn’t relish the thought of sleeping
in the street with two little kids.”

“Not a problem. Here, there’s some room
here you can settle into for now. Grab a couple of chairs over
there to mark your space.....that sounded bad didn’t it.....and
we’ll bring the cots as soon as we can uncover them in the storage
room. It’s strange it being this hot so early in the summer, but I
guess stranger things have happened. Like that camera crew over
there filming our problem. Must be a slow news day for them to come
in here.” Unbeknownst to the night super, stranger things indeed
were about to happen.

Laura got some chairs to, as the super
said, “mark their spot”, and settled in to maybe read the now tired
and restless kids a story to entertain them for another night until
they could drift off to sleep in the stifling heat; surely the cots
would arrive soon. Amanda was comfortable on the duffle bag for
now, and Jack was sitting on the floor; Laura was a little
concerned about the floor part of it, but reconciled herself with
the thought they had just spent an entire day breathing other
people’s exhaled air on the bus; could the floor be any worse than
that? Some time later, just as she was getting well into reading
the book, she noticed a small entourage coming through the door to
the rec room: the night super, a tall well appointed woman probably
in her early sixties, and a man so big he literally filled the
doorway when he came through. And they were clearly headed right
for her small assemblage. ‘Oh, hell’ she though to herself, ‘now
what’s wrong?’ and just as quickly chided herself for even thinking
language she did not want the children to hear. Things just
couldn’t get worse could they? And the answer was, no, things
weren’t going to get worse. In fact, they were going to get a whole
lot better, even though it would take Laura a little time to get
past her recently well developed wariness of new situations. She
and her children were about to be rescued by persons who knew what
they were doing, but not why; it would be some time before all
would understand.

Chapter 5 – Channel
15

The eight day business trip had gone
well for Ryan. He had signed supervisory management contracts with
several new clients, and a couple more intended to present his
proposals to their board of directors. His reputation preceded him,
or at least that of Windmere. Success begat success, and his plan
to grow Windmere into a national firm, maybe even an international
firm, was coming along nicely. Still, living out of a suitcase,
however experienced he was at the task, could not take the place of
being home. At that thought, the sadness returned as his memory
recalled happier days with his beloved Mary at his side; she had
been gone nearly two years now, and while the grief had subsided,
he believed it would never go away entirely, nor did he want it to.
Without the memory, however painful, he would have no memory of
Mary; that was unacceptable. ‘Better to have loved and lost…..’ he
thought to himself, but that hardly filled the hole in his spirit.
He worked nearly non-stop now, had ordered closed up the “White
House” he and Mary had lived in, and moved back into the rooms they
had occupied before building the house, conveniently adjacent to
his office.

Windmere had maintained time rights on
a private jet, but Ryan, ever the good businessman, seldom used it
for his own travel, preferring to use the local airport services.
It was more cost effective, but took its toll on his 6’3” frame. He
unwound his legs from the puddle jumper and went in to retrieve his
luggage and laptop from the baggage claim area, then strolled to
the parking lot to locate his tired Taurus. It was the car he and
Mary had purchased right after they were married, with the intent
to add at least a couple of kids along the way. But, it was never
to be; the children didn’t arrive, and Mary was gone now. He kept
the sedan anyway because of the familiarity, and because he
considered it unfair to his staff to make them wait on him at
airports, especially when it would be their normal time off. It was
a somewhat strange turn of events, but Ryan simply did not know how
much his staff appreciated him and would do anything for him,
especially now that they sensed his continuing sadness. Retrieving
the mile weary car, he headed for Windmere, food, and a night’s
rest before tackling the paperwork that always went with business
deals.

Leaving the car in the drive, Ryan
dropped the luggage in his sleeping room, the laptop in the office,
and headed for the kitchen to see what Mrs. Cook had left him. That
was one of the job perks he did enjoy, having something ready for
him when he returned. Mrs. Cook pretty well knew his food
preferences, although now and then she would leave something new
for him to give a try; she had not disappointed him yet, and
tonight would be no exception. He retrieved the plate from the
refrigerator, added a cold Mexican beer he had come to enjoy, and
headed for the Great Room to catch up on the local scene. Normally
he would have retired to his own quarters, but there were no guests
just now, and the Great Room flat screen was one piece of
technology he did appreciate. With no remote in sight, he hit the
“On” button on the front of the unit, decided to watch whatever was
on, enjoy his meal, and find the remote later. The set lit up with
Channel 15, the local station, something he didn’t watch much since
his interests were more on the national level. But, it was on, and
he still didn’t see the remote; it wouldn’t hurt him to keep track
of the local scene, especially since most of his staff lived in
Conyerville.

The commentator was talking to the
administrator about the loss of the cooling system in a local
homeless shelter, and the effect it was having on those the shelter
protected. It was a former hotel, somewhat rundown from its glory
years, but unquestionably better than living under a bridge or in a
cardboard box. As the camera panned around, the effect of the heat
and humidity and the distress it was imposing on the residents was
obvious. Most of them were now in the rec room area trying to get
some breeze from the floor fans, their rooms being far too hot to
be habitable. The panning hesitated for a moment or two on a young
woman holding an exhausted looking little girl with very sad eyes,
and an equally exhausted appearing little boy who looked like he
was standing guard to protect them and their remnants of some
former life. In that brief moment, Ryan saw in Laura’s face a look
of quiet desperation intermingled with a look that said “I don’t
belong here, but I’ll do whatever it takes to care for my
children.” It was a look that burned into his mind, and re-ignited
an interest he had long kept sequestered in his emotional
being.

As quickly as the panning resumed, Ryan
hit the house intercom button before even thinking about the time.
It was well past 7 PM and the staff had retired for the night.
Slightly embarrassed with himself for this unexplained lapse of
judgment, Ryan was somewhat startled when Mrs. Hamilton answered
the page and without knowing Ryan had initiated the call, asked it
there was a problem. Memory now serving a little better, Ryan
remembered that all calls went to Mrs. Hamilton, when she so
elected. When the system was first installed, she has insisted in
having a monitor placed in her cottage, not to monitor staff as she
quickly assured them, but to make sure every guest call was quickly
answered. She had on this night elected to answer calls herself,
even though there were no guests in residence at the
moment..

A woman of her own means, Mrs. Hamilton
had elected to move into a guest cottage on a permanent basis
shortly after Windmere was remodeled and open for business. She had
done a little work there some years before for the owners when it
was still a private residence, and truth be told, her children felt
better about her living at Windmere than in the large home where
she and her late husband had raised their family. A tall, graying
woman of slightly more than 60 years, Mrs. Alice Hamilton was
respected more than feared by the staff, but no one wanted to test
her will. Although she was actually a paying resident at the time,
Ryan had asked her to help out with the planning logistics of a
large meeting since his hands were already full with other matters.
From that beginning, her position had grown from guest to
essentially Major Domo of the facility over the last couple of
years, a position she enjoyed but did not flex with unreasoning
power. She expected the best for the guests, and staff delivered.
And, she still had plenty of free time to seriously spoil
grandchildren when they visited. That was one of the reasons Ryan
had added the wading pool adjacent to the larger pool. He truly
appreciated her abilities, frequently wondering where she got her
strength. And then there was the present call to be
explained.

Ryan quickly responded that he had
acted without thinking about the time and apologized for disturbing
her at the late hour.

“Never mind all that stuff. What’s
going on?” Alice had a way of cutting to the chase before it even
began.

“I’ve been watching Channel 15 about
the problem at the homeless shelter. Have you seen that, all those
people trying to get a little comfort in an untenable condition?
And that woman with the two little kids?” The image of Laura was as
real in his mind as if he were watching it again. Ryan had the
uneasy feeling he needed to do something about what he had seen,
but he was unsure of himself, a condition unfamiliar to
him.

“Wait. I’m on my way.” was Alice’s
reply. Even had he protested, Ryan knew it would be of no use.
Alice was into this now, and he found himself unable to come up
with a reasonable excuse for why Laura’s image stayed in his mind
so clearly.

As she entered the Great Room, the
video feed was replaying the lingering shot of the shelter. Alice
caught the image of Laura and her two children, saw the look on his
face, and just as quickly understood what was going on inside
Ryan’s being.

“You know, Suite A isn’t in use just
now, and we don’t have anything booked for the next few days. We
would certainly have room for those three. Besides, you’re right;
those people just do not look like they should be there. Not that
anyone should be left homeless, but they look completely out of
place and desperate. I think maybe someone needs to go after them.
Any objection?”

Ryan had no objection; he didn’t even
have any reason for what was going on, but he also knew Alice was
going to do what he wanted to do, yet was personally unable to
carry out just now. “I can’t ask you to do this, you know, and even
if you do go, you can’t go alone. You’d need a driver at least.” he
added, certainly not to dissuade her, but in the hope it would
clarify his own thoughts at the moment.

“Not a problem. Dennis owes me from
last weekend’s game. I’ll give him a page.”

“And Alice, I think we need to see if
we can somehow help out with their air conditioning problem,
whether those people come here or not; it only seems fair, and I
think Windmere can afford to be a good neighbor. Okay?”

“Sure thing; I’ll ask Dennis what he
knows.”

The staff poker game was a frequent
weekend occurrence, but usually only for in-house staff. The
betting was minimal as was the ante. Mrs. Hamilton had learned the
game late in life, but enjoyed it thoroughly as much for the
companionship as for the sheer fun of playing. She ran “The House”,
and any profits went to charity. On the bottom line, “The House”
also stood the cost of snacks and beverages for the session, so for
Windmere it was anything but a net gain proposition. Still, it was
harmless enough, and Dennis did owe her a favor, having lost a bet
to “do a good deed” on a simple card turn; Alice didn’t cheat at
cards, but neither did she forget a debt.

Alice Hamilton poked the number for
Dennis’s pager and hit “send”. Ryan could see from the look on her
face she was now on a mission, not to be diverted, or interfered
with. He was still unsure what he had initiated, but somehow, he
knew it was the right thing in spite of his unclear
feelings.

Dennis Anderson was a man of somewhat
frightening proportions. As a semi-pro football lineman topping 340
pounds on a 6’ 6” frame, he was feared as a competitor. But the
years in the pits had not been kind to him, or to any parts of his
body, from his arthritic knees to his gnarled fingers, each of
which had been dislocated at least once. Cut from the team, he was
driving a cab in Conyerville to earn a living and picked up Ryan at
the airport one evening several years ago. Ryan saw in Dennis the
answer to a problem he was wrestling with: the facilities at the
Windmere home property were starting to get prime bookings, and he
needed to have available some basic security. He also needed to
develop a secondary driver who was reliable, personable, and who
could also handle the significant baggage some clients liked to
travel with. After a brief conversation, Ryan made Dennis an offer
to work part time for Windmere, sort of a trial basis.