Lunch at the Homeless Shelter        

       “Mom, look, the caterpillars with the black spots are back again,” said Katie. She had taken to calling her mother “mom,” instead of “mother.”  She had also begun to comment on things in the garden that had always been there and were not really worthy of mentioning. It was fun trying to guess how her mother would respond. Today, after her comment about the caterpillars, Katie said to herself, So they are.

    Her mother sat back and wiped a strand of hair out of her eyes. “So they are,” she said, and Katie suddenly had to suppress the urge to giggle.  Her mother looked at her sharply, but Katie had already returned to her weeding and was lost in thought. She was thinking about something Brian had asked her only a week ago.

     “My mom works with people like that,” Brian had remarked, as they had passed a shabbily dressed couple sleeping on a park bench.

      Katie stared. The people on the bench didn’t look like they were working.

      “What sort of job do they do?” she asked.

      “They don’t really work usually,” he answered. “They’re homeless.”

       “But you said your mother works with them!”

       “Jeez, Katie, I mean my Mom helps people like that. She’s a social worker.”

Brian told her that every week his mother and her volunteers made a big meal and served it to homeless people. When Katie wistfully commented that it sounded like fun, Brian hooted with laughter.

    “The food’s crap, Katie!”

    But Katie wondered if it really was. Brian didn’t think much of the magic stones he called peppermints; perhaps the food was nice and he just didn’t realize it.

    “Why don’t you come along with us the next time we go?” he asked. “Mom takes me with her sometimes; you could come too.”

     Katie doubted that her mother would let her go; still, it was worth asking. 

     Katie glanced at her mother who was now frowning at the branch infected with black-spotted caterpillars. Taking a deep breath she said “Mom?” 

       Her mother looked up absent-mindedly. “What is it?”

       “Well, you know Brian?”

       “Yes,” said her mother, somewhat tartly.

       “He wants to know if I want to go to lunch on Saturday. His mom works with homeless people, and it’s for them . . .”

       “I see. So his mother will also be at this…function?”

       “Yes.”  Katie held her breath. 

       Her mother was silent for a moment or two.  Katie pretended to be deeply absorbed in the weeds she was pulling out. Then suddenly she looked up: her mother had spoken, but she was certain she had misheard. “What did you say?”

       “I said, yes. You may go. Please be home by 3:00.”  Her mother sounded tired.

       “3:00!”  Katie was thrilled. That would give her three and a half hours!

       “Yes.  If you are having a meal, it is likely that the function will take at least an hour or two.” Her mother sighed.

       “Oh mother, thank you!”

       Her mother gave her a tired smile.

Katie Takes a Ride

       All Saturday morning, Katie moved about her chores as if in a dream. By 11:00 she was in a state approaching panic. What if Brian had another one of the colds he always seemed to be catching? Somehow she managed to get through her morning chores without spilling or breaking anything, though, and at only a few minutes past 11:30, she heard a knock on the door. It was Brian!

       “Katie, I hope that you will not give me cause to regret my decision,” her mother said. Then she turned, and went back into the house. 

       Katie and Brian grinned at each other and raced down the drive. Katie automatically turned toward the direction they took when they went to the library and was well ahead of Brian when she suddenly realized he wasn’t behind her. She turned back to see where he was and saw him standing by a car with his mother. They were both staring at her.

       “Where are you going?” yelled Brian. “Our car’s here.”

       Katie walked slowly back towards them. She stared at the front window of her house – could her mother have known that they were going in a car? What if she hadn’t realized this and was watching them with disapproval, about to step outside and forbid Katie from going after all? Katie knew her mother thought that cars were wasteful indulgences.  But when she looked back, her mother wasn’t at the window.

       “Come on, get in, what are you waiting for?”  Brian was already in the car, so Katie, her heart pounding like fury, climbed in too. It wasn’t easy. There were long, slippery straps that sprang up from the floor of the car, springy things that seemed ready to grab at her ankles and trip her up, and she bumped her head and practically landed in Brian’s lap. All in all, climbing into the backseat of a car was harder than it looked, thought Katie.

       “Everybody buckled up?” asked Brian’s mother.

       “Katie isn’t” said Brian. “Katie, do up your seatbelt. Mom won’t drive unless everybody’s buckled up. Will you, mom?”

       “No, I won’t.  But maybe Katie needs a little help – so give her a hand.”

       Brian leaned over and made a great fuss of fastening one of the long, treacherous straps which had so inconveniently caught at Katie’s ankles.

       Then Brian’s mother stuck a key into a hole in the front of the car and the engine caught and gave Katie the shock of her life.

         Brian gave her a look. “Is this your first time in a car?”

       Katie sat stiffly in her seat, strapped in place, biting her lip. Suddenly the car took off with tremendous speed. Katie could see Brian’s mother smiling at her reassuringly in the little mirror at the front of the car.  Then, gradually, she felt herself beginning to relax. She swallowed and looked at Brian.

       “Yes.”

       Brian gave a little crow of delight.  “Mom, this is Katie’s first car ride!  Can you even believe it?”

       Brian’s mother gave Katie another reassuring smile in the little mirror.  “More power to your Mom for not having a car, I say.  Kids nowadays don’t know what it is to walk to anywhere: their parents take them everywhere, it’s ridiculous. Brian, you cut it out.”

       Brian sulked.

       “Now when I was a kid – back when the dinosaurs walked the earth, as you well know, Brian – we had to walk. Everywhere we went. We walked to school, we walked to the Y, we walked to the dentist’s – now that was tough. Having to walk to a place where they stick needles into your gums and drill holes in your teeth – oops, sorry kids.”

       Katie was horrified. Was it really true?  Brian exaggerated, she knew, but his mother?  Would she?  Surely she was exaggerating about the dinosaurs; Katie knew that they lived many millions of years ago...but Brian’s mother was talking again.

       “If we wanted to go somewhere, we walked. And if we couldn’t get there on foot, we took the subway. Or a bus. But we mainly walked. And do you know, Katie, there are kids in Brian’s class who won’t walk to the library because it’s too far away?  And by that they mean it would take ten minutes to walk there!”  She shook her head in disgust.

       It was wonderful to be in a car, thought Katie. Wonderful to look at the fields whizzing past them, to see people on the streets going about their business, walking dogs, shopping. They passed the library, and suddenly Katie realized that they had left the neighborhood she was familiar with and were now in unknown territory. Buildings, houses, signs and billboards she had never seen before rushed past them.

       When Brian’s mother finally stopped the car in front of a large brick building, Katie wished that they could just keep on going.  Brian’s mother turned around in her seat to face Brian.

       “Now Brian, a word or two. My volunteers are going to be there in force today. As you know.”

       Brian rolled his eyes dramatically.

       “So I am warning you:  behave yourself.  It will get back to me if you don’t.  No matter what you think of them, they are helping us a great deal and we need them. Got it?”

       “Yes, ma’am.”  Brian folded his hands in his lap and sat up straight, the picture of politeness. This seemed to enrage his mother. 

       “Brian, for God’s sake, what does it take?”

       “All right, mom. Sorry. I’ll be extra good. I really will.”

       His mother sighed.  My mother isn’t the only one who does that! thought Katie.

       “All right then. Stick with Katie and make sure she has a good time. Okay?”

       “Of course!”

       “Oh – and I almost forgot – you don’t have to eat the food, Katie. Frankly, it’s pretty awful. I’ll buy you kids something tasty and nutritious on the way back – no, not hamburgers, Brian.”

       Brian made a disappointed face.

       “But please, Brian, no negative comments about the food in front of our clients. Think of how they feel – you turn up your nose and say ‘Yuck, what is this junk?’  It’s the one square meal they might be getting in a long time, so imagine how they feel watching you pretend to gag over it?”

       “Hey, I’m not pretending. . . ” Brian said, partly under his breath, but his mother shot him a warning look and they all got out of the car.

       “Come on!” Brian said. “We’ll find Henry. Henry’s great, you’ll love him.”