Author's Note: So we heard from Arlene/Larxene, the sole survivor of a religious cult. Now let's see how Isa/Saix interpreted the situation.
Walking out the door, I did not expect much to happen on my way to graduate school. After all, in the past nothing has been out of the ordinary other than the occasional homeless person pawing at me for spare change.
I took my normal place at the bus stop, tuning out the ruckus of the city. A woman, clearly living on the streets, took a seat on the opposite end. I studied her for a few moments before she noticed. She seemed disgusted when I adjusted my cravat, like she had a disdain for anything that seemed even remotely above her means. Something was wrong, and she was trying too hard to hide it. I felt a little sorry for her, which struck me as rather peculiar. "Are you alright?" I asked her, a part of me sincerely worried about her wellbeing and the other part just thinking it was a polite gesture.
"I'm living off of quarters, scavenging for cardboard boxes, and getting screwed by the government. I'm fucking peachy." I could not look her in the eye after her brash response. I sometimes glanced at her, pretending not to be interested. She frightened me somewhat. She pulled up her sleeve, revealing scars and sores, some open. This frightened me even more. What had this woman gone through that would cause such marks?
"What happened? Did someone burn you?" I did not want to press her too hard, she might shut down on me.
"It was God's will." She hastily responded as she concealed the scars with a tattered long sleeve. I could not conceive what this woman was possibly talking about.
"Someone burned you because it was God's will…?" She became quite flustered about my line of questioning.
"What is this, 20 fucking Questions? What about you, Sir Hoity-Toity? Where the hell are you off to?"
"If you must know, I am going to school." I tried to remain calm, but her rising temper almost caused me to get a little uneasy. "Where are you going?"
"Hell. Oh, you mean after I die?" She reached for a loose lock, wrapping it around her index finger. "Nowhere. Literally and figuratively." She paused for a moment. "What school?" An odd question for a street urchin.
"Hartford Law School." The aura of smugness felt even stronger than before.
"Oh, the douchebag melting pot of the city. You'd fit right in." The amount of hatred she harbored for the world was staggering. I did not even know how she made it this far. "Not like I can tell a sign from the hole in the ground." I was beginning to understand, but I was not quite sure. I had to test my theory.
"What street is this?" She looked bewildered and rather vexed.
"How the fuck should I know? It's your job to be the educated one." I was right.
"You can't read."
"No, but I can sit, stay, roll over, and balance a milkbone on my nose. Isn't that what you rich people think we are? Non-reading morons?"
"I never said that. Many great men have fallen into the streets."
"Name me one philosopher that sustained himself on a diet of cocaine and hookers." The conversation halted as suddenly as it began, but it soon picked up again. "Just as I thought. Even Jesus had a fuckin' job." Her religious references were many. I gathered that she must be from a very religious background.
"He was a carpenter." I myself was not a devout Catholic like my parents, but it served its purpose.
"So you're not completely void of morals. I misjudged you." She looked rather amused. "You're a heathen with style. At least Hell will be more chic with you there." The bus finally arrived, ending my conversation with this mad woman. But there was something about her that made me want to see her again. I shifted my gaze.
"I never got your name."
"Arlene. And you?"
"Isa." I gave her a warm smile. "Will you be here in about four hours?"
"No, of course not, my day planner is filled up. What do you think?"
"I will meet you back here. Treat you to dinner." A look of utter shock came across her face, as if she had experienced compassion for the first time in her life. "Maybe teach you how to read."
"I… would appreciate that." I boarded the bus, Arlene the urchin getting up, rounding the corner of an alley, and disappearing into the city shadows.