Maureen's Journey Home

by Ian Macdonald

  In Alya’s case things would in fact go quite smoothly. She was a well-educated girl, spoke English fluently and had an easy going manner. She was a teacher by profession and loved being around children. Her personality was warm and friendly and she displayed a certain degree of self-confidence without coming across as pushy. The main question was where could they send her? It had to be somewhere her family would never think of her going. It was then that Maureen had an idea. She ran it by Rachel first to see what she thought and then made a few calls of her own to try and put this plan together.

  “Hi, Helen, it’s Maureen.”

  “Hi There girl, How are ya doin’ down there in the big city?”

  “I’m doing just fine, I am working in the Women’s Shelter here as you know and I have a favour to ask if you.”

  “Sure - what it is?’

  “Well I have this young girl here who had to leave town because her family want to marry her off to an old man. She is a teacher by profession and I wondered if you could ask Hamish if he knew of any positions going out there?”

  “Well I can certainly ask him Maureen. He isn’t in right now – but I can call you back.”

  “That would be great Helen, I really do appreciate it. This girl has to get as far away from her family as quickly she can – they just might kill her if they find her. She is scared to death by that. They want her to marry this 58 year old guy with ten kids and another wife and she has never even met the man. She would be little more than a sex slave cum housemaid over there.”

  “I’d run for my life too” replied Helen.

  “Well I plan to send out there, Helen, and she can stay in my house for now until she gets up on her feet out there. If she can get a teaching job so much the better – but she is prepared to anything so long as it pays the rent and allows her to live any kind of normal life.”

  “Well I will do my level best to make sure she is looked after here, Maureen. I can meet her at the airport etc.”

  “Oh she won’t be flying, I’ll put her on the train, and not in the city either. Helen. Her family will be checking those places. I’ll drive her out of town and put her on the train there. I can give you all the details later, Helen if you could do that for her. I know she would appreciate it, I know that I do and she knows nobody out there. Well she’ll know us, Hamish and I will take good care of her Maureen.”

  They chatted for a few more minutes about local gossip and catching up in general and then hung up. Later that night, Helen called back. There was a vacancy in a school in Liverpool and could she send her resume there ASAP as they were currently interviewing. Hamish had dug up that information that afternoon after speaking with Helen. Maureen then phoned the Shelter and spoke to Alya and told her fax her resume or e-mail it directly – and to do it that night. Alya was delighted and said that she would. She received a reply early in the morning and also an interview for the following day. Maureen had her on the train that afternoon.

  Alya was absolutely over the moon. Never in her wildest dreams did she think this would be possible – and from total strangers who didn’t even know her. Yet here they were helping her and asking nothing of her in return; except that she make a new life for herself and be happy. Maureen received an e-mail from her later to say that Helen met her when she arrived and also took her to the interview the following morning. She got a follow-up e-mail the next day – she got the job.

  There were high fives all around in the Shelter that day. Here was some good news for a change. Alya was safely away and all set up in a new life and already had at least two friends. This was what the Shelter was all about – New Beginnings, and Alya had just started hers thanks largely to Maureen and her friends.

  ***

  Paul was really pleased for Maureen. This had really given her a boost. Her life up until this point had seemed to lack purpose – not anymore. She had found her niche; she was making a difference in people’s lives and therefore in her mind validating her own purpose in life. Helen was a teacher; she was educating a future generation. Rachel was a nurse as well as being the executive director of the Women’s Shelter and now she too was in a position to help others. It was Paul who made her realize that.

  “You know Honey, one day down the road; Alya will really appreciate the new start that you have provided for her. She is grateful right now for you rescuing her, that goes without saying. The full impact of what you have done is yet to be felt. One day she will wake up and take a good look at her life and know that you were responsible for it all. That, Honey, is something to really be proud of. That is an achievement, and Alya will simply be the first of many, Maureen. I simply couldn’t be more proud of you. Okay I’m prejudiced, I’ll grant you that – but it’s true all the same. I have told you before that you have a heart of gold – this is merely an example of it. One that Alya will never forget, trust me on that.”

  Maureen just soaked all that praise right up, and coming from Paul of all people made it doubly heartwarming. Yes, boyfriends are expected to say nice things, that’s a given, but in this case he meant every word of what he said and Maureen knew it. How did she get so lucky to find such a guy? He was supportive, encouraging and caring and super protective all rolled into one. She felt so safe and secure with him in her life, a feeling she had never had before. Now between Paul and this job at the Women’s Shelter she felt as if she had the world by the tail instead of the other way around. Previously she had felt like the whole world was stomping on her tail. Alya was not the only one having a “New Beginning”, Maureen was too and so too were Gwen, Andre and of course Paul. The wheel of life has many compartments, rather like a roulette wheel, some good others less desirable. The fickle finger of fate determines which slot you land on. Well, the first time around for these four people they fell into an undesirable slot. Now however, on their second spin of the wheel, their luck had changed. It was as if they were back in the Garden of Eden and starting over. This time around things were definitely going to be different; they could feel it and they were really optimistic about their futures. The calamitous experiences that they had undergone now made them appreciate just how fortunate they were now. It also gave them an insight into the lives of others who were suffering all kinds of pain in their lives. It was this level of understanding that allowed them to be so effective in helping and guiding others to walk down a different path in order to find the peace and tranquility they sought. It did exist; they knew it now because they had found it. Now they could encourage others to seek it too and convince them by example. Tony had seen this in his vision for these havens – and he was quite correct, it was starting to happen now.

  Chapter Thirteen

  ***

  Paul was sitting in his office one morning doing some of his paperwork and paying a few of the Man Cave’s bills. Andre had taken Jacob with him to do some maintenance work on one of the upstairs floors, so they would be busy all day. As he was working away quietly a knock came to the front door. Stood there was a policeman with a sorry looking guy whose face was all beaten up and seriously bruised, his arm was also in a sling. Paul took one look at the guy and assumed he had been a bar fight or something – he couldn’t have been more wrong.

  “Come on in guys, how can I help you?”

  “Well, the officer said, “I think Mr. Harris could use a little help if you can accommodate him. I’ll let him tell you his story later, but for now can I have a quick word?”

  “Certainly, officer just step into my office.”

  “Here is what I can tell you for now, the rest must come from him due to privacy concerns. I know the Women’s Shelter deals with these issues on a daily basis and these cases are rare in men – but his guy really needs help. I mean just look at him, his self-esteem has simply evaporated and his injuries, although serious, are nothing compared to the psychological damage he has suffered.”

  “What the hell happened to this guy?” enquired Paul.

  “His wife did this to him. You wouldn’t
believe me if I told you what she subjected him to on a daily basis. Battered wives have it easy compared to that guy, trust me. You’ll be able to determine that for yourself when he opens up and tells you his story. It’s just unbelievable; I mean men don’t let their wives beat them. It’s always the other way around and when it does occur who can they tell without being laughed at? I really hope you can help this guy, he has nobody else”

  “Rest assured we shall do our best for him. We have professionals who can probably put him back on track. They are the same ones who visit the Women’s Shelter and they certainly know their way around family violence. He’ll he be in good hands here.”

  “Thank you Sir, he could use a few friends round about now. Have a nice day.”

  “You too officer, you take care out there.”

  With that, Paul went back out and invited the man into his office and had a chat with him. His name was Clive Harris and by just simply talking to him everything seemed quite normal. He was a normal guy who worked in a downtown office building as an import/export clerk. He had three kids, but only one was his, the other two where his wife’s by her first marriage. So far so good thought Paul and then he asked about her. The man’s demeanor changed on the spot and it was certainly visible. His Wife’s name was Bessie and she had one or two anger management issues apparently. Her violent temper however was only the tip of this iceberg. The threats she would make against both him and his little girl were off the scale. She would threaten to burn the house down with them in it, pour acid on the little girls face to make her ugly and she even went so far as to beat herself so as to have him arrested when she told the police that he did it to her. If he fell asleep in his chair, she would fill a pillowcase with all kinds and then beat him with it. His broken arm this time she had done with the fireside poker, again while he was dozing. He would do his best to fend her off, but she was just blind crazy and couldn’t be reasoned with. She was on medication – but its effectiveness was less than desirable shall we say. The reasons why she would fly off the handle were various and totally unpredictable. She could be quite the charmer too at other times – she certainly had the police fooled. I mean come on now – how could such a nice petite woman do that to a far larger man? Where would such a woman come up with such rage and violence? – now her husband on the other hand????? This was how it played out just about every time. She didn’t look like a villain, so therefore she just couldn’t be, could she? Nobody could imagine her flying around on a broomstick at night and Clive Harris knew it. Nobody would believe his story. Only he knew just how vicious this woman could get. He was terrified for the kids and he had nowhere to turn and he couldn’t move out. He couldn’t afford child care on top of rent and if she found out where he was living she was capable of anything. Battered wives were frequently in this position – but husbands? Nah! That never happens right? All he could do was try to stop her from hitting him – if he was awake. If he laid a hand on her he’d be the one in the back of the police cruiser –they’d simply never believe him. The neighbors would confirm nothing – they never saw any of this and she was just lovely as far as they were concerned, the perfect wife and mother. So far she had not harmed the children, hers or his. The threats were there, but then, nobody else had ever heard them. It was this that had totally demoralized Clive and shattered his self-confidence. He knew what she was capable of – but nobody would believe him and he had nowhere else to turn. Now he was in the Man Cave what would she do to those kids? She hadn’t hurt them before, but what would she do now if he wasn’t there?

  Paul listened to all of this with an open mind. The evidence was sitting there right in front of him. The man had been savagely beaten and his arm had been broken. It was difficult to imagine a woman doing this to her husband – but here it was and he had no reason to suppose he was lying. What man would come up with a story like this and lay his self-respect on the line unless it was true.

  The police meanwhile were secretly keeping their eyes on his house. They had also been to the school checking up on the children. They had not believed Mr. Harris on previous occasions – now they were beginning to suspect that they had got it wrong and he was on fact the victim and not her. She had this “Butter Wouldn’t Melt in Her Mouth” act down to a science, but they were not on board with it this time. If this woman was in fact dangerous they wanted to know it before she did something really sinister and people were hurt or possibly killed as a result. Bessie looked and acted quite normal and she had no history with the police, so on paper she was a model citizen. However, with her husband out of the way and with no one else to vent her anger on – what would she do now? If her husband was correct and she did go off her meds, than just about anything could happen. Her doctor confirmed she had anger management issues, but he insisted that it was under control – she was always in good shape when she visited him anyway. That of course was true, she was terrified of being institutionalized and so she always took her meds prior to her visit with him.

  When Clive finished telling all of this to Paul, he just broke down and cried. When he regained his composure he apologized to Paul for letting his emotions get the better of him as he put it.

  “My friend, anyone who is living with a person capable of inflicting injuries such as these when they are asleep is entitled to be emotional. You are quite normal in having your fears; you’d be abnormal if you didn’t. We have people here who will be able to help you and you’ll have time for those injuries to heal too.”

  “I really do appreciate that, far more than you could ever imagine” he said. I’m not a weak man in general, but I just can’t cope with this, I just don’t know how to.”

  “Well, Clive, I don’t know how many people could to be quite honest with you. I’m ex-military myself and I have been around and seen a few things – but I always had someone guarding my back, especially when I slept. You were terrified to sleep in case she beat you, threw acid on you or worse. That “Sir” gives you the right to break down in order to preserve your sanity. I think you’ll find peace here and hopefully a resolution to this problem.”

  “Thank you for understanding and being so patient with me even if I am a wimp.”

  “You are quite probably a lot of things Mr. Harris, but a wimp certainly isn’t one of them. Come on; let me show you to your room.”

  ***

  That night, Paul told Maureen about the new resident they had in the Man Cave and what had brought him there.

  “Oh my God, exclaimed Maureen, the poor man”

  “I guess you see a lot of this sort of thing over in the Women’s Shelter, eh, Honey?’

  “Yes I’m afraid we do, we just don’t think of it happening to a man though – but now that you mention it I can see that it’s possible. As a girl we had this girl in our class in school who took a delight in going out at playtime and beating up one boy or another. She just seemed to get off on it and she really enjoyed it – she was a real bully, all the girls were afraid of her. One day she picked on this kid who had an elder brother. After school that day the elder brother beat her up pretty bad –he got expelled – but she never touched another boy after that – or girl either for that matter. I guess we have bullies everywhere, but in the end they seem to come off worse. Take those lumberjacks for example, or those hunters. I think they’ll be regretting their actions for a long, long time.”

  “Yes indeed and so they should, but you are right, Bullies do get their comeuppance.”

  ‘What are the police going to do now, are they taking the kids to foster care?”

  “Well no, they have nothing to charge the wife with, she has a clean slate with the police and the neighbors never saw anything amiss or even heard a harsh word. There’s nothing they can do, unless of course she steps out of line. The will be keeping an eye on her now though.”

  “Anyway, let’s change the topic. What would you like to do this weekend? We could go for a trip somewhere or just veg out in here –it’s your call.”

>   “Hmm, let me think about that, you have caught me off guard with that one.”

  They then both cuddled up on the sofa and turned on the TV. As they were only showing re-runs that night they switched over to the recorder and watched a movie instead. They were comfy and warm and the only thing missing was the popcorn. Then again that would hardly go with the drinks that Paul made half way through –two Blueberry Teas complete with a lemon slice and a sugar coated rim. They were so good that Maureen insisted on him making another. Ah Yes, the emotional component of the movie together with the Grand Marnier and Amaretto cocktail set the tone for a most romantic evening. It most certainly took their minds of work and all that entailed. They had another restful night’s sleep that night – eventually.

  The following morning Maureen had reached a conclusion as to what they could do that weekend.

  “Paul is it too late to get tickets for the Princess of Wales Theatre – Les Miserable is playing and I’d love to see that?”

  “Well let me phone them later and find out. If I can get tickets we can go to dinner first. Oh, and if I do, I’d like to see you in that new kilt of yours. You look amazing in that, Honey, you really do.” Maureen just glowed inside hearing that. It reinforced what he had said the day she bought it. He wasn’t just saying it because he felt he had to endorse her choice – he really meant it.