Rescue Me (Sidney Crosby)

Chapter Two

“Mommy, how much did you win?” Josh asked as I counted the money.

“Almost a thousand,” I said happily and he laughed.

I hopped into the car and the two of us drove down the street and found an old run down mill and parked the car in there. It was late at night, and I wanted to get some sleep, and I knew that it was past Josh’s bed time, so I said it was time for sleep and locked the car door.

When morning came, I woke up and then started the car and drove out of the parking lot and found a motel that looked like it was cheap. I ordered a room for about three nights and the old man shook his head and then handed me a piece of paper. I looked at it and it showed an apartment building that was in downtown Pittsburgh. I looked at him and shook my head saying that I only wanted to stay a few nights. He shook his head and I wanted to hand the old man about two hundred dollars. He looked up and down at me and then looked down at Josh who was clutching onto my jacket. The old man gave me back the money and then held up his finger telling me to hold on and then called someone named ‘Mildred’. I was confused and then placed my hand on Josh’s head and felt him hide behind my back.

“What do you want?” she asked and then looked at Josh and I, she gasped and then walked over towards us, “Oh dear lord, you two look frozen to the bone! Harold! Did you charge them?!”

“I asked for three nights and he wouldn’t take my money,” I said quietly and the woman grabbed my arm and guided me out the door after taking a key from the shelf behind the desk.

“Oh sweetie we moved to a new place, if you’d like to follow me, I’m heading down there now,” she said and I nodded my head and then got back into the car and waited for the man and woman to get into their car and followed them as they drove through downtown Pittsburgh.

Josh and I got out of the car and saw that it was the building that was in the picture that the old man was showing me. There was a garage under the building and then you took an elevator up and into the building.

“Come, come,” the old woman said as she ushered Josh and I to follow her. When we walked in, it looked like an antique shop and I was really confused, “Sweetie, I’m a lot older than you and you’re slower than me!”

“Oh, sorry,” I said and she smile and walked up the stairs to the second floor.

She grabbed a set of keys out of her pocket and then I looked to see that there were two doors in this small aisle and then another set of stairs that continued to go up. She opened the door and then had me walk in, “This is one of our finer apartments, I don’t think that you’ve seen a home in a long time, sweetie.”

“Um, ma’am I think there was a confusing. I’m only here for a few nights, I don’t plan on staying.”

“Where are you going to go? That wad of money isn’t going to last you long,” she said and I sighed.

“I’ll manage,” I said and then went to turn around.

“Sweetie, come on,” she said and I looked at her, “I can tell that you both have been through a lot, and I think that you need some place to stay.”

“Ma’am, I can’t afford this place, the money you see, that’s all I have,” I said has I held out the money and looked to see that she was smiled towards me.

“We’ll work something out, but please, stay.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because you’re not the first girl that I’ve seen like this, and she didn’t accept my help. Three days later I read in the paper that her and her little girl were murdered,” I gulped and then held onto Josh, “Darlin’ I’m just an old woman who has no children that talk with me. My oldest son died and my husband and I raise his son. We’re lonely and we wouldn’t mind having someone around here, you could help around the shop as payment for your apartment.”

“I don’t know if-“

“I won’t take no for an answer!” she said and I was taken back and felt Josh pulling on my jacket.

“Mommy, I want a home,” he said and I looked down towards him and then sighed and nodded my head.

“All right,” I said and the woman smiled.

“Wonderful!” she said and then led us into the apartment to look around.

“Wow,” I said as I saw that it looked a lot better than the outside of the building did, ‘…Maybe Kyle will never look for me in a city…’

“It’s a two bedroom apartment,” she said and I smiled towards her.

“Grandma! Grandma!” I heard a little boy yell and then saw one appear in the doorway, “Grandma, Poppie told me there’s someone my age here!”

Josh appeared from behind my back and I smiled towards the little boy. I bent down and hand my arm on Josh’s shoulder, “Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“I’m Josh, and I like cars!” he said and I smiled as the little boy walked in and held out a toy car.

“Me too! I’m Conner!” he said and the boys shook hands, “Wanna play?”

“Oh sweetie, let them get adjusted first-“

“It’s all right, they can play in here,” I said and the woman looked up and nodded her head.

“I’m Mildred, by the way, Mildred Haggers, and the old fart you saw in there was my husband, Harold. We run this little place.”

“It’s beautiful, and that you for everything. I’m Julie,” I said and she smiled.

“Wonderful to meet you, I’ll send Harold down to go and fetch your bags,” she said and I nodded my head.

I walked downstairs and saw Harold waiting by the elevator, the two of us headed towards the parking lot and over towards my car. We grabbed all of the bags, which weren’t much, and went up the elevator again and up the stairs. Mildred was sitting on the chair by the small table watching the boys and I smiled as I watched them play with their toy cars.

I looked around the apartment to see that when you walk into the apartment, the living room was on your right, and the kitchen was on your left, there were four doors, two being bedrooms, each on one side of the apartment with the bathroom and storage closet in-between them.

“Thank you so much,” I said and she smiled, she stood up and walked into the kitchen to see that she that she had made coffee, ‘…That was fast…’

“The only thing I ask is for you to tell me the truth,” she said and I looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Who are you really? What am I getting myself into?” she asked and I sighed and grabbed the cup of coffee and sat down at the little table and told her my life story, “Seven years?!” she asked and I nodded my head, “So he’s never been in school?”

“No, but I’ve been teaching him stuff while we were on the road,” I said and she nodded her head.

“Oh honey, you’ve definitely had it rough,” she said and I nodded my head, “And your family doesn’t know where you are?”

“No,” I said and I looked over towards Josh, “He hasn’t had a home; we’ve been on the run for a long time.”

“And everything you own is in those bags?” she asked as she saw the two small bags. I nodded my head and she shook hers, “We’ll have to fix that. Sweetie, you’ve been officially adopted.”

“Thank you,” I said and started to cry.

“We’re going to take care of each other around her from now on, all right.”

“Yes, I’m all right with that,” I said and she laughed and placed her hand on top of mine.

My apartment door was opened and there was this dog that ran in. Josh has never really been dogs or cats before, so he jumped up and ran over towards me.

“Oh sweetie that’s just Bow, she’s harmless,” Mildred said while calling over the collie, “She likes to play.”

Josh walked over towards her and then tried to pet her head, but the dog pulled her head up and licked his hand. He laughed and then looked at me and I smiled, Josh sat on the ground and the dog got up and started to lick his face. I laughed as she pushed him to the ground and was playing with him.

“See, harmless.”

“Bow! Come ‘mere girl!” Conner called and Box got off of Josh and I laughed to see that his hair was all crazy and he had dog drool all over his face.

“Poor dear,” Mildred said and I got up and walked over towards the kitchen and started to wipe Josh’s face off so that he could go and play with his new friend.

‘…I’ve finally caught a break. Maybe I can start a life here…’