Throwaway People

Your Name is Keyote

Green Acres, Camp: 11:17 PM

Kitty sat up in bed. Covered in sweat. Her dream was fading quickly. She remembered she had been in a similar bed. That someone called Winnie wasn't there. Winnie had gone with Tia Cuervas.

"Aunt Crow." Kitty said in English.

A image of a stern woman in a denim jacket, black tee-shirt and jeans came into Kitty's mind. Winnie's image as a dark skinned twelve year old with a round face and black hair. Mommy? No she couldn't remember Mommy. Nor did she want to remember the Wanagi. What he did.

Patty lay in the other bed. She snored softly. Kitty debated whether or not to wake her up. To tell her about the dream. It was silly. It could wait. Kitty went back to sleep. She had no more dreams. A figure stood over her. Her lips were moving.

"I am here. I've come back for you." She was saying, but there was no sound anyone could hear. She was no more than a dream which Kitty would forget in the morning.

November 23, 6:06 AM

Jim was making coffee when Patty got up. She pulled a can of hash from the cupboard. She opened the can and plopped the contents into the skillet. Jim took the bread, placed six slices on a pan and sprayed butter flavored food release on the top of them. He put them in the oven.

"I'm going to charge my phone at the Lost Tea Shop. Stacey said I could. It's Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm thinking that we should watch the Thanksgiving Parade. I can download it." Patty said as she began to cook the hash.

"I'll shop for the essentials, while I'm out. Turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, and maybe some eggnog. I can keep that cold in my pack." Jim was thankful that they had an oven to cook that kind of meal.

"How long since you last celebrated Thanksgiving?" Patty asked.

"Not since long before I was homeless. Years."

"About eight years or so, for me."

"Why celebrate it now?" Jim poured himself some coffee.

"It's not for me or you, it's for Kitty." Patty smiled at Jim. "Who knows the last time she celebrated Thanksgiving. If ever."

"The way she eats, she should love Thanksgiving."

Green Acres, Camp: 6:10 AM

Kitty woke up and noticed that Patty had already gotten up. She lay there in her own bed for a moment. Her own bed. Not on the floor in the Casa Sombrio. Covered in mildewed, stinking bedding. She lay in a bed with sheets that smelled of lavender. Blankets that were clean and smelled like the sheets. In a room that smelled like sage and lavender. With no roaches, no bedbugs, lice, fleas.

As Kitty got out of bed she realized that she was wearing a clean tee-shirt. Pink with a couple of kittens on the front of it. No Guardia had roughly pulled her out of the bed. Calling her names and sending her too the shower where she had to stand in line with the other kids.. She didn't have to perform for someone to get this bed, even if she did something wrong, she'd still sleep in it.

Kitty grabbed a white bathrobe that had been found for her in the bathroom linen closet. Wrapping it around her she moved across the hall to the bathroom. The adults in the main room went quiet as she crossed the hall. She gave them a lazy wave as she went into the bathroom.

Kitty was aware that the adults were talking in low voices. So she couldn't overhear. They were talking about her. About what to do about her. How to find a place for her. They didn't know that she felt she had a place with them. The last few days had showed her that this was her place. In this building, with them.