by Betsy Haynes
The children started climbing onto another overstuffed chair and jumping off and rolling on the floor, all the while squealing at the tops of their lungs. Their yelling grew louder as they played until Jana had to cover her ears. She looked at the women, expecting them to say something to the kids, but all that happened was one of them got up, turned up the sound on the television, and sat down again.
Jana wished Liz would come back as the kids started pushing and shoving one another all over the room. Had Liz remembered that Jana was coming over? Maybe she did and this was her way of getting even with Jana for what she had said in the hallway at school.
Halfway into the next sitcom, when Jana was sure her ears were going to burst, she heard someone call her name. Looking around, she saw Liz looking at her from the doorway. Liz jerked her head in a motion for Jana to follow, and then disappeared.
Jana grabbed her bag and purse, hopped over the three kids and went through the door after her.
"Wait up," Jana called as Liz walked hurriedly down the hall. Liz's stiff back gave no indication that she had heard Jana.
Jana caught up with her midway up the squeaking staircase to the second floor.
"So you didn't cop out after all," Liz said sarcastically without looking at Jana.
"I told you I would come," Jana answered, anger rising inside her. "If you can stay here, I can too."
"Humph!" said Liz as she continued up the stairs and in through a door.
Jana followed and found herself inside a large room with army cots along one wall. Two women were sitting on cots at one end of the room and a woman with a small girl was unrolling the mattress on another in the opposite corner. The empty beds had mattresses rolled up like jelly rolls on them. On the other side of the room, a fireplace with an elegant mantel was sealed off with plywood, and the windows at the ends of the room were covered by dilapidated-looking blinds that had wide slats. Liz headed toward the woman and child.
"You met my mom," Liz said gruffly when they reached the lady. Jana recognized her from that day in school when she was introduced to Liz. Mrs. Flagg was making a bed and had two large shopping bags stuffed with things at her feet. Jana realized that they probably contained everything that the Flagg family owned.
"Hello, Mrs. Flagg," Jana said politely.
Liz's mother gave her a half smile and returned to making the bed.
"This is my sister, Martha," Liz said, putting her hand on the little girl's head.
Martha gave Jana a much bigger smile and seemed happy to see her.
"The women and children sleep up here," said Liz. "The men sleep downstairs. They've also got a couple of rooms downstairs for families that have both parents so they can stay together. You can have that bed," she said, indicating one that was fourth from the end. "Everyone tries to get a corner so they can have more privacy."
"Thanks," said Jana. Liz didn't bother to reply.
There was a blanket, a pillow, two sheets, and a pillowcase stacked on the cot. Jana rolled the mattress out over the wire springs and made the bed. The name "Phoenix House" was written on the tattered edges of the sheets and pillowcase with a black marker. It was probably to help keep people from taking them.
When she was finished, Jana took off her coat and sat on her cot waiting for Liz to finish making hers.
As she was waiting, other women came into the room carrying shopping bags and paper sacks, some with children, some without. Jana was shocked to see one lady who appeared to be about the same age as her own Grandma Morgan. She had never thought of her grandmother in any way except bustling around in her kitchen making good smells in the house that she and Grandpa Morgan had lived in most of their lives. It was hard for Jana to draw her eyes away from the woman. She might be someone's grandma, too.
"Well, are you ready to do homework?" Liz's voice startled Jana. She turned, and Liz was standing over her, the same angry look on her face.
"Sure," said Jana, digging her books out of her bag. "I'll just stuff these things under my bed," she said, zipping the bag shut.
"You'd better not," Liz warned. "Put it under Mom's bed. She'll be here to watch it. And you better not leave your coat lying there, either. If you do, it won't be here when you get back."
The thought that someone might steal her things if she wasn't careful made Jana's skin crawl. She had never had to worry about that before. She did as Liz told her and put her bag under Mrs. Flagg's bed and put her coat back on. Now Jana understood why Liz wouldn't take her coat off at school.
"It's too dark to study up here," Liz said, nodding toward the single light bulb in the middle of the ceiling. She was right, it couldn't have been more than sixty-watts.
Outside the room, Liz pointed to a half-opened door at the end of the hall. "That's the only bathroom on this floor," she said. "You can take a bath tonight or in the morning, suit yourself. But you may have to wait your turn. There's no shower . . . just a tub . . . and you'll have to scrub it out for the next person when you finish."
Liz led Jana back down the stairs and along the narrow hall beside the stairway. "This is the playroom," she said as they turned into a small room. "We can study in here while the kids are in the TV room. Sometimes, when there's a test coming up in school, I have to study in the laundry room. That's only when there aren't too many people doing laundry, of course." She said it in a matter-of-fact way and not with any anger.
There was a large couch in the room. Its back was split and the arms frayed. Against one wall was a rickety bookcase with children's books. A child-sized table and chairs sat next to it, and a closet stood open revealing a jumble of toys. Jana and Liz took seats on the opposite ends of the couch.
As they were settling in to do their homework, Jana heard the doorbell ring and Nathan shout, "Josh, don't you dare open that door!"
"Why can't Josh open the door?" Jana asked.
Liz stared at her. "It's the rule," she said. "I guess some mothers and kids have stayed here in the past to get away from violent husbands. Nathan's the one who answers the door just in case it's one of those men."
Jana shrunk down a little on the couch. She hadn't thought that there might be violence associated with staying at a shelter. Shelters were supposed to be places where people could come and find a place to stay where it was safe. She watched Liz as she concentrated on her homework.
Just then there was the thunder of footsteps running in the hall, and Josh and the two little girls he had been playing with appeared in the doorway along with two more children.
"Lizzie, where've you been!" yelled Josh as they rushed into the room squealing.
"Play with us, Lizzie!" the children shouted, jumping up and down.
"Well, so much for studying," Liz said ruefully. "Look, kids, I've got company and I have to study. Can't you play by yourselves?"
"Awww," said one of the little girls.
"I know," said another. "Let's play eviction."
"I'm gonna be the daddy!" yelled the littlest girl.
"I'm gonna be the daddy!" shouted Josh. "You be the sheriff."
"Okay, Angela, you be the sheriff," said one girl who appeared to be the oldest, "and I'll be the mommy. Anna, you be the kid."
"Okay," said Josh, sitting down at the little table. "This'll be the house, and we're at home eating supper."
They all took what looked like preassigned places, and Angela stomped into what was supposed to be the "house."
Jana watched in amazement at what must have been a game the children played lots of times.
"YOU HAVE TO LEAVE!" little Angela roared as loudly as she could. "I'm evicting you!"
"No! No!" cried the "mommy." She pretended to cry, "Wahh! Wahh! I don't want to lose my home!"
"I'm not leaving my house!" Josh-Daddy shouted.
"You leave peacefully, or I'll throw you out!" Angela yelled. The words seemed even more preposterous coming from such a cute little girl.
Jana stared speechless as she watched the children play their eviction
game. The very idea that three-to-six-year-olds would even know what the word meant was incredible. But they all obviously understood very well what getting evicted was all about, as they went about playing their roles. They've actually seen people get thrown out of their homes, Jana thought in amazement.
Red-faced and angry, Liz looked at Jana and stood up abruptly. "Come on, you guys. That's not a good game to be playing. Let's do something else."
"What? What?" the kids shouted as they jumped up and down, ready for a new game.
"How about a story?" Liz suggested.
"Yea! I love Lizzie's stories!" Angela cried.
"Tell the one about the three bears," cried Josh. "That's a good one."
"Yeah! The three bears!" shouted Anna.
"Okay, you guys," said Liz, sliding to the floor. "Gather around me."
The children quickly settled cross-legged in a circle around Liz and looked up at her with wide eyes as she started the story.
"Once upon a time there were three bears. The papa bear, the mama bear, and the little baby bear . . ."
Jana took a deep breath and leaned back to watch Liz tell her story. Liz's face lit up, her body became animated, and her eyes sparkled as she led the children into the fairy tale. The kids sat silent, hanging on every word that she said.
Jana was astonished at how great Liz was with the kids. She had said she loved them, and it was obvious that she did, and they loved her, too. Maybe Liz could become a teacher someday and use her talent with young children.
Jana thought about the last couple of weeks with Liz at school: Liz's not wanting to be friends with anyone, not getting her homework done, not wanting to get involved at Wakeman. Now, sitting here watching Liz entertain kids in the shelter so they wouldn't play the eviction game, everything seemed to really make sense for the first time.
Liz was a very proud and capable girl. She and her family had simply had bad luck. Now Liz had to live in a place where she had to watch her things all the time to keep them from being stolen, she didn't have a place to study, she had to live in a big room with a lot of other people, and there was even the danger that some violent husband might come barging into the shelter looking for his family.
Jana shivered. She really had to admire Liz for being able to handle so many tough things. When you looked at it that way, Jana wondered if she could do as well if she, her mother, and Pink were in the same situation. She guessed probably not.
As Liz finished telling her story, Jana slid down onto the floor next to her. "Have you guys heard the one about Snow White and the seven dwarfs?" Jana asked.
"Yeah! But tell it anyway," said Anna.
As Jana started her story, the kids turned their attention to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Jana noticed Liz looking at her curiously.
CHAPTER 13
Later, after the kids had all been put to bed and Jana and Liz had finished studying, the two girls made their way back upstairs.
"You were really super with those kids, Liz," Jana said.
"You weren't too bad with them yourself," Liz replied. "It's after ten o'clock, which is when they make us turn out the lights in the sleeping rooms. You'll have to get dressed in the dark."
"I hope I don't get my pajama tops and bottoms mixed up," Jana said, giggling.
Liz glanced at her and actually had a small smile on her face. "It's a good thing we made our beds before we came down or we might have had to sleep on a bare mattress."
"What time can you get back into the shelter during the day?" Jana asked as they stopped outside the dormitory door.
"Four-thirty in the afternoon," said Liz.
"But school's out between three-fifteen and three-thirty," Jana protested. "What do you do between then and four-thirty?"
Liz shrugged. "Sometimes I meet my mother at the library or I go to the YWCA and help take care of the little kids in the day-care center."
"Really?" said Jana. "I didn't know that. Is your mother having any luck finding a job?"
Liz's face brightened. "She had an interview today that she thought went real well, and she heard that the factory where she used to work may be calling people back."
"I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for her," Jana said, showing both her hands with fingers crossed. "I'd do my toes, too, if I could."
Liz's face softened. "Thanks."
Later, Jana lay on her cot trying to sleep. Along the row of beds, several people were snoring in different keys, and it was distracting. At the other end of the room someone was coughing. She was used to her own room, which was totally silent when everyone went to bed. Every time she rolled over trying to find a more comfortable way of lying on the bumpy mattress the springs would squeak so loudly she was afraid it would waken Liz, who was in the bed next to her.
A streak of moonlight came through the space between the edge of the blind and the window frame and fell across Liz's face. She was sleeping, but every once in a while Jana saw her frown and move. What kind of dreams must she be having? Jana wondered. Her whole world is turned upside down. As she lay looking at Liz, a tear rolled out of Jana's eye and down her cheek.
Children's voices in the hall woke Jana the next morning. She was still groggy from not being able to sleep because of the noise in the night, and she pulled the cover up over her head.
"Better get up," she heard Liz say.
Jana peeked out. Liz was already dressed and making her bed. Mrs. Flagg was not in the room.
"Sleep well?" Liz asked, smiling at Jana. Jana wasn't sure whether she was being sarcastic or not. She decided she wasn't.
"Well, not exactly," Jana answered, struggling to sit up and scratching her itchy head. "I've got to hand it to you, Liz. Sleeping in a place like this is heroic."
"It's pretty noisy, isn't it?"
"To say the least." Jana looked Liz in the eyes. "I want you to know I'm sorry about the way things went studying for the history test. I didn't understand how practically impossible it is for you to study in this place."
Liz nodded. "That's okay. This place isn't easy to imagine." She drew in a deep breath. "I guess I was pretty hard on you, too. But you had better get in gear if you're going to get cleaned up at all. There's probably a line a mile long at the john right now."
"Oh, my gosh!" said Jana, jumping up. "I forgot." Quickly she dug through her bag and pulled out her toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and hair dryer.
"What's that?" Liz asked, smiling and pointing to the hair dryer.
"My hair dryer," responded Jana.
"I know. I'm just teasing, but you won't be able to use it in the bathroom. They don't allow electric appliances in there."
"They don't?" asked Jana. "Well, how am I going to wash my hair? It's all oily and I can't go to school with it looking this way."
"You won't have time to wash it anyway. There's a ten-minute limit on the bathroom, and that's for everything, including cleaning the tub for the next person. I usually wash mine when I get here after school. There's no one waiting in line then, and nobody cares if you take more time."
Jana started to protest that if she had to wash her hair the night before, it would be greasy again by the next morning, and she would look like a mess at school. But then she remembered how many times she had silently criticized Liz for her greasy hair. Criticized her before she understood. Jana kept quiet and wondered quickly if she could wrap something around her hair and wear it to school. She hated to let people see her this way. What if Randy saw her with her hair dirty or stringy?
"Do you have soap or a towel?" Liz asked.
"No! Should I?"
"This isn't the Marriott," Liz answered, chuckling. "They don't supply all those good things."
Jana frantically looked in her bag for something to dry with as Mrs. Flagg came back into the room.
"Mom, Jana doesn't have soap or a towel," said Liz. "Do we have an extra?"
"Sure we do," said her mother. She dug a towel and washcloth out of the shopping bag and handed them to Ja
na. They had been worn so thin by use, Jana wondered if the towel would sop up any water at all.
"Here, you can use my soap," said Liz. "You'll have to hurry, but if the line's not too long you should be okay. I'm going downstairs to get something to eat. When you're finished, come to the kitchen."
Armed with Liz's wet soap, the thin towel, her toothbrush and toothpaste, Jana went out into the hall. Her heart sank when she saw the line in front of the bathroom door. Three women stood or leaned against the wall in their robes waiting patiently. Jana fell in at the rear of the line.
The line moved slowly, and by the time Jana was next to use the bathroom she was hopping up and down and hoping Liz wouldn't leave for school before she was ready.
When she was finally in the bathroom, Jana opted to wash herself off with the washcloth rather than trying to take a tub bath. When she had finished, she looked at her hair. It was a stringy mess from the oil that had come out in it. Ugh! Should she run water over it and try to blow it dry in the dormitory? Her shoulders dropped in dismay. There wasn't enough time to dry it if she did. Maybe she should just go home and play sick? What would Liz think if she did? Jana knew what she would think. She would think that Jana couldn't take it. She gritted her teeth and brushed her hair up as well as she could. It didn't improve much.
Jana sighed and opened the bathroom door. A family of three was waiting their turn. She smiled and hurried back into the dormitory to put stuff away and join Liz downstairs in the kitchen.
"Did you have everything you needed?" asked Mrs. Flagg.
"Pretty much," Jana answered. What else was she going to say?
"Oh, Jana," said Mrs. Flagg. "Would you take this book to Lizzie? She forgot it."
"Sure," said Jana, hoisting the strap of her bag over her shoulder and taking it.
As she took the stair steps two at a time something fell out of the book Liz's mother had given her. Jana rolled her eyes in exasperation and reached down to pick it up. She was late enough as it was. Her hand stopped in midair. It was a photograph. Slowly Jana picked it up. Three faces smiled up at her from the picture, and one of them was Liz Flagg. Liz was in the middle, and on either side of her, arms wrapped around one another, was another girl. Liz and her friends, Jana thought, looking as close and happy as The Fabulous Five. Were they The Terrific Three? And this must be the picture Liz was looking at the night she came to Jana's apartment to study. Looking and remembering.
