If anyone's disappointed that I didn't write last night, don't be. I'm not. I feel like it happened for a reason. Like I fell asleep before I remembered I had a responsibility because something amazing was going to happen the next day. It's like God knew. What I'm about to tell you is fresh. I'm still crying about it, although not sobbing as I was thirty minutes ago.
When I came into work, I was not feeling one hundred percent. I was hormonal, PMS-y, and angry. I wanted to curl up into a ball and wallow rather than work my butt off all night. While I was sweeping the dining room upon my arrival, the restaurant's phone rang. I didn't even try to sound happy. "Thank you for calling Little City Grill. This is Cayla. How may I help you?" Not chirpy. Not sweet. It was slow and monotonous as if to say, "Please hand up and never call back" to whoever was on the other line. I felt bad when it was my mom on the phone.
"Hey, Cayla, it's your mom." She told me she was going to send a woman to my job to eat, and to get her whatever she needed and foot the bill. She said she'd pay me back later. I was sure it was someone homeless or malnourished, and when ten minutes passed, I was afraid this woman was dead on the side of the road.
When she finally got into the restaurant, she was terrified. If she was so afraid, I wonder what possessed her to trust my mom to come to my job in the first place. She was carrying a forty-four ounce cup of water that my mother bought her, and she was unsure of what to do when she came through the door. I sat her down and gave her a menu. She told me she couldn't read, and asked me if I'd read it to her.
I had already cried when I got off the phone with my mom, and I was trying not to when I was taking her order. She kept asking if we had mashed potatoes, and I knew she was hungry. (I mean really hungry.) I told her our chicken fried steak was good and got her two orders of mashed potatoes. By then, my heart was broken.
She told me that she had been walking four days and nights, trying to get to Austin. She said she was in a bad relationship and her ex beat her and left her for dead. She said that a nice couple picked her up and drove her here from the next town over and gave her five dollars (the same five dollars my mom told her not to spend at the convenience store before she sent the woman to me). She said all she wanted was to get a job in Austin and start her life again.
She ate, she was so polite and nice, and she didn't ask me for anything. I kept waiting on her anyway. I kept trying not to cry in front of customers, but I couldn't control the tearflow and had to go to the employee bathroom to get my emotions under control.
My coworker and good friend, Dylan, called the police and EMS. I was so upset with him. I didn't want this sweet 47 year old woman to go to jail for being homeless. She never asked for anything, and hadn't done anything wrong as far as I had seen. A beat later, the dining room was swarming with officers of the law and medical proffesionals. I was overwhelmed.
So, of course, I called my mom. She left her job to come see me and she took me outside and told me that it was okay. She hugged me and let me stain her work-shirt with tears. She patted my head and rocked me back and forth and kept saying "Oh, it's alright, baby. Hey, it's going to be okay." I wish I could have held it together, but my mom certainly helped me from falling completely apart.
The woman kept saying to my mom and me, "Are they going to take me to jail?" It's a funny thing when a seventeen year old encounters a situation like this. The woman was not mentally sound. She was paranoid. I have never in my life met a person like this. I didn't start crying again, much to my surprise. I took a deep breath and reassured her. What I said was true. They wanted her off of the streets and they wanted to help. I asked the officers if they could notify me of her well being when thing turned out for her. I wanted to see the ending, and I prayed for the best.
The officer said he found her mother and would even drive the woman to her mother's house if it meant she'd be off of the streets. When he told her this, she said she didn't want help. She said not to bother her family. At that point, my mom made me leave.
Well, I just called our police department, and they told me she left. That because she refused help, there was nothing they could do. I cried some more.
While we were there, everyone in this tiny Christian town said "God brought her to Thrall for a reason." Truthfully, after learning she refused help, I wonder what that reason is.
Life is a tearful mystery.
Cayla xx
This just in, the police officer from the Grill followed the woman and got a call from her niece. Apparently, she has a brain tumor and she missed an appointment to get it drained. She started wandering and wasn't in her right frame of mind because of the pressure. She's spending the night at Seaton, and tomorrow, her family is getting to take her home. The police officer stopped by my mom's job because he saw me crying and he wanted to follow through. That meant so much to me. I'd lost hope for her and had a hell of a day and just when I felt more like wallowing, I'd gotten great news. The officer thanked me and said that keeping the woman at the restaurant and Dylan calling the police probably saved this woman's life.
I still feel really good. Now I get why God put this woman in my life. To show me my own compassion and to help someone. To impact my life in such a way I'll never forget.
This was a crazy, emotionally draining day.
Peace out, homedog.
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