Sheltered in the Pine Boughs

The cold wind blew through the pine branches Shell had pulled together as a shelter against the Wisconsin weather in November. Earlier in the day the sign by the bank flashed a temperature of 15 degrees. It wasn’t unheard of but it was unusual to be this cold before December.

The ragged duffel bag that contained all her earthly belongings was beneath her head keeping it from the hard ground. It wasn’t really soft, but it was sufficient. Over her chilled body was a fairly warm blanket someone had thrown in the garbage for having a small hole in it. She was short enough that it wrapped around her entire body if she curled into the smallest ball she was able to.

The moon above in the clear night sky was almost full and it lit the night for her. She could see stars through her make-shift shelter. There was a time not so long ago when she couldn’t see those same stars because of all the bright lights of the town she lived in. She had a house, a car, a job and a decent life.

They say bad things come in threes and she was beginning to believe the adage. She had fallen ill to pneumonia last fall. She spent almost a week in the hospital trying to recover. The doctor told her she had almost died. If she had waited two more days they would have been recovering her body from her home after someone discovered her. Sometimes she wished she had waited those two days.

In a tragic series of events she lost it all. Her pneumonia led to problems at work. She had to fill out paperwork to cover the days she had lost in the hospital. The stress of the paperwork alone was enough to make her ill. All the red tape. Waiting for the papers to be filled out by the right people. Then waiting for them to be sent back to her work.

When she did return back to work she was still recovering. Her ability to handle her job suffered and it wasn’t long before they let her go for inability to do the job she was hired to do. The hospital stay had already caused her bills to fall far behind. Losing her job was the last straw.

It was only a matter of time before everything she owned was taken from her. “Repossessed” was the term they used. If she could have at least kept up the car payments she would have been able to sleep in the car. Well, maybe. She still wouldn’t have money for gas to drive the car anywhere.

Shell hadn’t been honest with her family. She had a brother with a large family and a single sister who was an introverted spinster who hated people in general. They would have helped her without question, but she didn’t want to be a burden to either of them. Michael struggled already to feed his 5 kids. They barely had room in their small cottage for the family. She wasn’t going to impose on their lives.

She and Susan got along well enough, but Susan needed her space. Having anyone live with her would have caused only problems. Susan was a woman who needed to live alone. She and her cat had each other. They didn’t need an intruder.

Neither of her siblings knew of her situation. Shell had always been a bit of a loner and wasn’t good at keeping in touch. Both Michael and Susan lived an hour away, far enough that they weren’t aware of her local happenings here. As far as they knew Shell was doing just fine, if rather quiet.

Thanksgiving was two weeks away. She had never been one to celebrate holidays much but she did enjoy the time together with family. Susan always hosted Thanksgiving dinner. It was the one time her house was open to people. Shell enjoyed going.

She wasn’t sure she would go this year. Somehow she would find a way to get word to them and make excuses. She was too embarrassed at her living situation. Shell didn’t want them to feel sorry for her. She didn’t want them to feel obligated to take her in.

A cool wind blew through her shelter and her only companion, her dog Bandit, snuggled in closer to her. Thankfully they had each other to share body heat. She was so grateful she still had him, as both a companion and a protector. He kept watch through the night and alerted her if anything came too close.

Shell had stayed at the outskirts of town where she was close enough to sneak into the garbage dumpsters at night to find food, and where the larger wildlife might not feel too comfortable to find her.  She had made a couple acquaintances who were sympathetic to her plight.  When she was desperate for food she turned to them and they were more than happy to give her a meal. They didn’t have room in their homes but Shell wasn’t too unhappy about that.

Shell didn’t want to be the outsider in an inside world. She was an outsider as a rule, but to be part of a house and not part of a family drove home the fact that she didn’t belong. She would rather be on the outside looking in. It was more comfortable.

Tonight the local sandwich shop had thrown away some perfectly good food that some customer must have ordered and not wanted. The employees hadn’t wanted it either. Shell was thankful for that. It made a nice dinner for her and Bandit. He didn’t like the vegetables, but he devoured the lunch meat and the bun. They were both full.

Tomorrow she and Pastor Tom would be meeting at the little white church downtown. He had been trying to help her, but there was only so much he could do on his own. So many organizations claim they are willing to help her and others like her. They don’t mention all the red tape that is involved. But Pastor Tom was doing everything possible and he had a line on a possible job for her. It would be a phone job that didn’t involve meeting people in person so personal appearance wasn’t important.

He had been nice enough to let her come and clean up at his apartment every day. He might have allowed her to spend the nights at his place too, but Shell wasn’t comfortable with that. It wouldn’t look good. Someone would find out and it would cause problems. Then she would lose the help he did give her. It wasn’t worth it.

Shell refused to believe this was the rest of her life. She had fallen on bad times, but she was a fighter. With a little help from caring people and some hard work of her own she would get back on her feet again. This was an opportunity to restart her life. She could reinvent herself.

Bandit licked her face and snuggled in closer to her as a cool breeze blew through their shelter. She gave thanks for his companionship and closed her eyes.

Tomorrow is another day.

[Not all homeless people are in that position because they are too lazy to help themselves.  Sometimes they are there because of circumstances beyond their control.  All they need is just a little hand up, a little help to get back on their feet.  This holiday season what can we do to help those less fortunate?]