Dorothy, Can You Spare A Dime?

Chapter One

The four ladies were hesitant as they walked into the homeless shelter, each clutching a pillow to use for the night. But they had to find the jacket that had accidentally been donated here, for it contained a winning lottery ticket that promised 10,000 dollars. They all laid down in a cot, trying not to disturb anyone who was in one of the many cots crowded around their own. Sophia and her daughter Dorothy laid together, Rose was on one side of the room, and Blanche nearer to the doorway. Despite their very new and unfamiliar environment, Blanche and Rose were soon able to strike up a conversation with the individual in the cot next to them.

"Oh my gosh!" Sophia said suddenly, looking across the room. Dorothy glanced down at her mother, startled.

"What is it, ma?" She mumbled tiredly. Sophia pointed and Dorothy followed her gaze to an older, gray-haired lady sitting and looking forlornly at the ceiling.

"That's Ida Perkins!" Sophia said, shocked. "What the hell is Ida Perkins doing in a place like this?" Dorothy shrugged, and Sophia threw the blanket off herself and walked over to confront her old friend from Shady Pines. Now by herself, Dorothy took this alone time to observe. Her friends were sitting in a cot just as she was, for they couldn't search for the jacket until everyone else fell asleep. Blanche was staring intently at a much younger man (which Dorothy thought was typical) who was in the cot next to her seemingly reciting his backstory. And Rose was telling a man next to her yet another story about things "back in St. Olaf." Sophia had seemingly brought up a strong conversation with Ida Perkins. Dorothy was alone with her eyes and her thoughts.

She scanned the shelter, prematurely searching for the Aviator Jacket. Suddenly, a figure laying on a cot in the corner of the dimly lit room caught her eye. She couldn't help but get up and move closer to this person- the odd sense of familiarity emanating from her seemed to draw Dorothy in.

Standing over the person on the cot, Dorothy could now see that the person was female, and she realized why they had seemed familiar to her. This girl was a student in the freshman English class Dorothy had taught this year at the local high-school.

"What are you doing, Dorothy?" Rose's voice came suddenly from right behind Dorothy, starting Dorothy as she stood in shock observing the student. Dorothy pointed a shaky finger at her student, but no words would come out of her mouth to explain herself. "What is it?" Rose looked down at the tall, but thin figure huddled up under the blanket.

"She's my student!" Dorothy said; her voice, albeit hushed, conveyed a considerable amount of consternation. Rose's eyebrows furrowed in concern that almost mirrored Dorothy's. "I have to wake her up, and see why she's here." Rose nodded in hesitant agreement.

Dorothy bent down and gently shook her student. Glancing over her shoulder momentarily, she saw that Rose had gone back to her cot. Dorothy waited a moment; her student didn't stir. She stared down at the girl, studying her: her eyebrows were furrowed as though she was worrying in her sleep. Her medium brown hair was tousled, but looked as though it the girl had previously attempted to tame it with a brush. Her baby-face seemed older in her sleep- which was strange, Dorothy thought, because she had always heard that people were supposed to appear more peaceful.

Dorothy remembered this particular student well- the teacher of her English class had been on maternity leave since the beginning of the school year, and Dorothy had been their long-term substitute teacher. The student's name was Veronica Collins, but she went by Ronnie at school. Ronnie was gifted in English, and hardly ever spoke in school or in class, unless it was to Dorothy- Ms. Zbornak. Ronnie opted to eat lunch with her teacher after their class period, which was more than fine with Dorothy. She enjoyed the girl's company and Ronnie didn't seem to have any friends with which to eat. Once, during lunch period, Ronnie had told Dorothy that she preferred her company over any other student's- it had always been that way for her.

Dorothy shook Ronnie a second time, and Ronnie, bordering on sleepily conscious, made a futile attempt at swatting Dorothy's hand away. Dorothy smiled subconsciously. Ronnie slowly blinked- once, twice, and then she opened her eyes fully. She turned over on her cot and her eyes widened as she realized that is was her teacher staring back at her.

"Ms. Zbornack?" Ronnie said, her voice hushed and raspy from her sleep. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Ronnie." Dorothy replied, being unintentionally stern.

"I uh..." Ronnie seemed very uncomfortable, and she had the essence of a deer caught in headlights. She searched for a lie, but it's not easy to make up an excuse for staying in a homeless shelter. "I live here." Dorothy knelt down beside Ronnie's cot as the girl turned over on her side fully. Ronnie avoided eye contact with her teacher.

"Ronnie..." Dorothy paused, looking around and realizing that her mother was watching her intently as Ida Perkins slept on her shoulder. Rose and Blanche talked quietly as they searched for the jacket around the room, occasionally stealing glances at Dorothy with interest. "Ronnie, why didn't you tell me you were...homeless?" Ronnie shrugged, still not looking her teacher in the eye.

"Why would I? I've been homeless for three years. It's always been that way, you can't change that." Ronnie whispered. Dorothy's heart broke as she watched tears form in her student's eyes.

"Dorothy." Blanche's voice came from behind her, and Blanche beckoned Dorothy over to her. "I found the jacket..." The four girls looked at each other, and even in the dim lighting they could tell without communication that they all had the same idea. Sophia went to find the reverend and give him the lottery ticket.

Dorothy, after doing some explaining to a very intrigued Blanche and Rose, went back to Ronnie's side. Ronnie had slight tear tracks down her cheeks.

"Goodnight, Dorothy." Rose and Blanche called softly from their cots. Sophia walked in and slipped back under the covers with Ida, and told Dorothy goodnight as well.

"Goodnight, girls. Night, Ma."

Dorothy looked to her own cot and then back at Ronnie's. Her student was staring at her listlessly, the tears brimming in her eyes being the only thing that made them sparkle like lively ones. The were big and brown, like a sad deer- and that's what Ronnie looked like.

"I'm so sorry, Ronnie. I had no idea!" Dorothy said softly. Ronnie shook her head.

"Not your fault. Nobody's fault, but the man who hit and killed my parents. That's why I'm here. No parents, no house." Dorothy subconsciously touched her heart, as though she could feel it breaking for Ronnie. She was a student she cared very deeply about, and she had no idea she endured such emotional pain. She couldn't fathom what that must be like, to carry a burden like that and never tell a soul. It had to be destroying poor Ronnie- as if living in a homeless shelter at age 15 with no parents wasn't enough.

"Scoot over." Dorothy whispered, and Ronnie did as she was told. Dorothy gently lifted up her blanket and got under it. "C'mere." Ronnie almost fell into Dorothy's open arms, silent tears falling from her eyes, shut in pain. They lay like that, and Dorothy held and soothed her student until they both fell asleep on the cot in the homeless shelter.