Mother Goose, or Momma, as she liked to be called, was walking down the street on a cold, dark, rainy day. Her shoulders were hunched and she looked like the epitome of misery. She was heading back to the sunshine hotel after ANOTHER fruitless day of trying to find a job. She was about ready to give up hope, to tell the truth.

The rain had stopped. Momma looked up. No it hadn't. There was an umbrella over her head. She looked over towards the owner of said umbrella. A pretty woman in her late 20's with long dark hair was smiling at her.

"Hello." The woman said. "What's your name?"

"People call me Momma."

"Oh. Well, My name is Veronica Grimm. How do you do?"

"Not very well. Wait- Grimm?"

Veronica smiled again. "By marraige. Would you happen to be an everafer?"

"Maybe."

Now Veronica laughed. "Which one?"

"Mother Goose."

"Nice to meet you. Where do you live?"

"The sunshine hotel."

"That's on my way. Would you like me to walk you there?"

"Oh you don't have-"

"No, no, it's my pleasure."

So Veronica Grimm walked Mother Goose home, stopping for dinner on the way. The next day she was there again, with the umbrella. And the next, and the next, and the next. Veronica got Momma an application to bartending school, and left the umbrella with her. When Momma tried to give it back to her, vronica told her to keep it.

"Give it to somebody else someday." She laughed.

Momma had never thought she would give the umbrella to anone else, but one rainy day she was on her way home from the Golden Egg, and she spotted a dejected looking young man sitting on the curb. She remembered what Veronica had said, and walked over to the man.

"Hey." She said.

"Huh?" He answered, looking up.

"What's your name?"

"Chris."

"Well, Chris, are you busy?"

"Why?"

"Because If you're not, I'd like to buy you dinner."

"Do you normally go around asking random people out for dinner?"

"No."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"I'll tell you if you come with me and tell me your story."

Chris agreed. He was a nice kid, actually, who had gotten some hard luck. He and his wife had both worked for a company which had just gone out of business, and neither of them could find work.

"Why ARE you doing this?" He asked, after eating dinner.

"Because I was in your position a few yers ago, and somebody did the same thing for me."

And she did help him, quite a bit. Chris got a job about a month later, and he always remembered Momma and her umbrella. Momma, for her part, kept the umbrella and helped several other people with its assistance.