Late Shift
El Hopper could see her boss making her way over to her station.
"Jane… you still good with the late shifts except for Christmas and New year's Eve? I know the shelter is busy on those nights."
She was Jane to everyone. There were only a few people who called her El. Her dad of course, and what was left of the Party. Will was… gone. Dustin was a science teacher at Hawkins Middle. Both Lucas and Max were police officers and married. She kept in touch regularly with everyone. Everyone except Mike… El stopped herself. Don't go there El. Not at this time of year. Mike was gone. He disappeared seventeen years ago. You have no idea if he's alive or dead. He's gone.
"Yeah, Don thanks for keeping that schedule for me."
"No problem Jane, the work you do here is not nearly as important as the shelter."
El had taken the second job at the store to make ends meet. She had dedicated her life to working at the homeless shelter. Hoping one day… El stopped herself. Just go ahead and admit it El, you are hoping one day Mike will show up.
She had been working there over ten years, but it wasn't enough to cover the rising cost of living so she'd taken a second job at the department store to help.
She took the late shifts at the store, and left from there to go to the shelter and worked until the wee hours of the morning. Got up at noon and did the same thing again the next day. She rarely took a day off unless she was sick.
El gathered her belongings from the break room and pulled her wool hat over her loose curly hair. The Windy City was cold this time of year so she wrapped a scarf around her face also.
She went out to her car, and mentally mapped out the route she would take to the shelter.
She parked her car in the small lot at the back of the shelter and walked around the building to the front door. She had a key for the back door, but she preferred the front door. She needed to experience what it felt like for the homeless to walk through that front door. She'd made several suggestions to her boss on improvements they could do to make it easier for someone who'd finally hit rock bottom and walked through the doors for the first time.
There was a bench out front, and sometimes there would be a homeless person sitting on it. That meant that the shelter were really busy. They only had so many beds, and they constantly broke the law that disallowed letting people sleep on the floor. They had bought several foam and air mattresses specifically to break that law. El didn't give a shit. They needed a place to sleep if they made it through the front doors.
There was only one person sitting on the bench, they never bothered anyone who sat there. She knew they were waiting to see if space opened up for them.
He wasn't lying on his side, so he probably wasn't drunk. She changed her mind when she got within six feet of him. He absolutely reeked of alcohol. Shit, this one was going to be a pain in the ass to run through the intake procedure.
She moved closer to better assess his condition, and was surprised when he spoke clearly. "I'm not drunk."
"The smell tells me otherwise, no sense in lying to me."
He mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Friends Don't Lie."
El froze on the spot. I must be hearing things. No way he said that.
She sat on the far end of the bench trying not to get in his personal space. He was homeless but he was still a human being and deserved every respect because of that.
"Ok, so you don't lie. Can you tell me your name?"
"Mike."
It was her experience that they never gave her their real name. So "Mike" was what she'd be stuck with for now. Still, the name caught her off guard for a few seconds.
"Mike?" Coincidence El. This is not your Mike. Your Mike is gone. What was weird though was that he seemed to have stiffened and turned his head sharply to look at her. That belied her initial thought that he was totally inebriated. A head movement that quick would have made him pass out.
Her heart stopped when she saw his eyes. They were deep, gentle, and totally lifeless. This one had a painful story. She could read it in his eyes. He'd lost someone he'd loved deeply. She'd seen it plenty of times before. But… there was something else there. Something... His hair was a long mess, an egg beater couldn't have made it worse. His beard was scraggly and just as unkempt.
"Can you tell me anything else about yourself?" She was trying to establish a rapport, it made it much easier when you treated the homeless like living breathing people.
"I could tell you everything about me. But it would just depress you telling you what sounds like trite sob story."
Trite? This one was educated. "Can you tell me why you are here?"
"Do you want the practical answer or the metaphysical one?"
"Let's start with the practical."
"I'm homeless, originally by choice, now I'm trying to put my life back together. I thought I would try and get a warm bed and some food tonight, and then start looking for some kind of work. I found this jacket, but it was clearly washed in Jack Daniels or something. Just as well, I didn't really want to deal with anybody today… at least until it got cold."
Besides the smell, the overcoat he was wearing was too large for him and had seen better days.
El was definitely not expecting that answer. Out of curiosity's sake she asked, "ok… what about the metaphysical one."
He looked at her, the brief spark in his eyes was gone. He looked back down. In the most devastated voice El had ever heard he said, "I lost the girl I loved."
El's eyes filled with tears instantly. He looked so lost. She tried to keep the shakiness out of her voice when she asked, "how… how long ago?"
"I don't know, fifteen, maybe twenty years ago. Haven't really kept track."
What? He couldn't have been more than thirty, her age. He looked older but living on the streets will age you like nothing else could. And then El thought he's been grieving that much for fifteen years? From when he was twelve or thirteen? That usually indicated you needed therapy… or… or he loved this girl with his entire soul. And once she was gone, he was done. That was why he was homeless. He had nothing left to give the world but was not taking the cowards way out.
What would it be like to be with a guy who loved you that much? El was able to imagine that kind of love, because she was capable of it herself. She loved her Mike so much it hurt to think about it. It still hurt, even after all these years. That was why she'd never so much looked at another guy. She was hoping beyond all reasonable hope and common sense that she'd find him again.
She gave herself a moment.
"You said you were looking for work? What kind of work. What's your skill set?"
"I can solve a LaPlace Transform for an analog circuit. I can solve complicated Boolean expressions with Karnaugh mapping and then build the corresponding digital circuit. I can write a campaign for D&D. I can play a guitar. Or I can hammer a nail and use basic tools."
"How did you learn all that if you were homeless?"
"I'm homeless, not stupid. I hung around university libraries a lot. Sat in on classes. I have no degree, but I learned what interested me. I never wanted to be in the system so, I'm not."
El didn't know what to think. This guy was different. She was positive she could help him get back on his feet. He wanted to do that. That, she knew from experience was ninety-nine percent of the battle.
She made up her mind . She would let this guy use her shower. She would make him a home cooked meal. And drive him back here, or even let him sleep on her sofa.
"I'll take you home-"
The guy snorted. "Not gonna happen lady. It's against your shelter rules. I'm not letting my troubles get you into trouble. Besides I'll stink up your car and your house. And if that's not enough, I'm sure your husband, boyfriend or girlfriend would object to a smelly homeless guy you just brought home."
"Mike." That look from him again. Those lifeless, lost eyes.
"I break rules all the time. You know what? I don't care. If I can get you cleaned up so you don't look like shit, I can drive you to an employment center, you have a shot at getting an actual job tomorrow. And for the record, no husband, no boyfriend."
"I find that hard to believe, but, whaatever. Still, you'd do that for me? You don't even know me."
"Purely selfish on my part. I can help you. Maybe I can't save you, but I can help you."
"Ok." He looked down. "Thank you."
El couldn't help it. Her heart went out to him.
"You're leaving that coat behind though. I think that's the stinky part."
She went inside to tell her boss what she going to do. His response was what she expected. "If we can save even one of them…"
When she came back up the homeless guy was standing. He was a full head taller than she was.
He still had a bulky jacket on underneath. It was clear he was prepared to be sleeping out in the cold. She wasn't going to let him sleep outside.
She brought the car around the front. "Get in."
He got into her small car, having to duck his head quite a bit.
As she wound her way back to her apartment she eyed a drug store and pulled the car in.
"I'm going to get you some shaving gear. Studies show that clean shaven interviewees have a better chance at the job their applying for."
"I'll pay you back."
"If you get a job that will be payment enough."
He looked at her and said, "I can tell you are good at your job… you show a level of compassion that most people don't have… and you aren't burnt out yet… so you are driven by something…"
"Did you also sit in on psychology classes too?" She looked over at him smirking.
"As a matter of fact… yes."
El could not imagine a pain so bad he had chosen to live outside of the system, on his own with no one to care for him, or for him to care for. She envied this mysterious girl he'd lost… had she even known how much she was loved? She shook her head. If she never found her Mike again… a guy like this would be amazing to have in her life. She sighed.
Wait. Eleven Hopper. Are you falling for this guy? He's damaged goods. You can't ask someone with a broken heart to love again. It will only break your own heart trying.
"I'll be right back." She got out of the car quickly, tears stinging her eyes in the cold wind.