The Right Spot

MaryJ was late, she was sure of it. The afternoon light was fading and the sidewalks were filling up with people getting off work. She tried to hurry but her legs ached from standing in the line. "Let's go." she scolded herself, but she couldn't go any faster. Her right foot had it's familiar throb, and both of her hands were shrieking at her to stop. She took a little gulping breath. She couldn't stop, of course, not until she got to the church. Actually she was the happiest she had been in a long time. The standing in line had been worth it, she had her reward in one of her bags, carefully folded, still in it's original wrapper.

Rounding the corner on Seventh she was nearly knocked over by one a man with a Christmas trees. "Ho, granny, hey there." he had said with a smile. Definitely from out of town, MaryJ thought, probably one of the ones down from Maine. For a half second she allowed herself to think about some place else, the little lake, the crooked tree on the... , she shook her head. "You're here, aren't you?" she spoke the word out loud, looking straight ahead, "Right here and now, that's what counts." She traded one bag from her right hand to her left and took one from the left side and slid it in between the two on the right. She turned onto her street saw the lights.

The rest of the block was in it's usual gloom, what time was it? The lights were something new, she was sure she hadn't seen them last night but maybe they didn't turn them on until late and how late was it now? She hoped she hadn't lost her spot by the gate. She really liked that spot. She really did. Only a half a block to go now and she peered down the street to see if anyone else was already there. One of the bags started to drag on the ground a little and her right foot was now drenched in pain. No one seemed to be there, maybe it was so late that they were all settled in, maybe there wouldn't be any room. She shuddered at the thought of having to walk back the other way, all the way over to 23rd and maybe they would be filled up to and then what would she do?

The gate was moving. Someone was shutting the gate, Edith maybe, or the tall woman whatshername. "Edith," she called out. The figure near the gate stopped and looked down the street towards her. "Hi, hi." definitely Edith, no one else said 'hi, hi.' "Locking up early?" MaryJ asked as she continued to shuffle towards her. "No, it's a couple minutes after six, I thought maybe you decided to go somewheres else." MaryJ shook her head, she didn't have a breath left in her. She looked around, there was no else there. Good. "Well, good night now." Edith turned and slapped the padlock into place. "Father Phil or I will be by about eight. See you then." She shrugged her overcoat up around her face and headed towards Union Square. Mary watched her go for a moment or two, she must be tired, Edith usually likes a little more conversation. There was something else new in one of the windows, one of those lighted snowmen. Frosty the snowman, with his corncob pipe and his button nose and two eyes made out of coal, the words came bubbling up into her brain as she swept out her spot around the corner from the gate with a piece of cardboard. She took her bags and one by one squeezed them through the bars of the church's security fence saving the one with her new possession for last. "My new possession." she tossed those words over as she unfolded the wool blanket and refolded it in thirds. She placed it carefully on top of the four pieces of cardboard she had stowed by the staircase, got her little sleeping bag out of her canvas bag and prepared to lay down.

Once she laid down that was pretty much it for the night, so she liked to think a little and have a look around for awhile. She hadn't been as late as she had thought, and it was a good thing that Edith had seen her, that way she might not be so late in the morning. In the morning there would be heat inside the church hall and coffee and some kind of hot cereal, she hoped. The others would be coming from the shelters or 23rd Street if they were trying to score a second breakfast.

She lay down wrapping her feet in her old blanket while feeling how nice and soft the new one was under her. She zipped her jacket and pulled the hood over her head. She wiggled a little to find the right spot. Sleep rushed in on her.