The Real Win

The Real Win

This is a story about a woman named Lisette Freeman, and her big win in life.

You see, Lisette came from a small town in Georgia, is was so small that where everyone knew one another,

they went to the same schools, worshiped together, and most of the worked together at the chicken or candy factory which was considered good jobs for the people in that small town in Georgia.

Over the years as Lisette was growing up, Lisette always said that when she graduated High School, she wants to go to college in the windy city known as Chicago.

Lisette was fascinated by the tall buildings, the shuffle of the city, and the snow (but I don't think she'll be ready for the snow) but she loved reading, looking through magazines, anything she can find to learn more about that windy city that stole this small-town girl heart.

Lisette prepared for her journey throughout the years by working odd jobs, she saved up every penny she earned, except for her church dues she paid every Sunday, in the church basket.

She wrote many articles in the church publication on the upcoming services, events, bake sale, and also wrote about the Holiday events that go on throughout the town.

The years rolled by and that day has finally come, to see Lisette and the rest of the small town 12th graders' walk the stage, to be handed the baton to their next life, and Lisette was ready to grab here’s.

Writing was her passion, she wanted to be a journalist in Chicago, so before a few months before graduation, Lisette applied to the University of Illinois, and was accepted with honors.

Mrs. Freeman, Lisette's mother was so overjoyed by her acceptance, that she spread the word of Lisette's news, and the town decided to throw Lisette the biggest going away party the town has ever had.

There were all kinds of gifts received for her new college life, that Lisette and her family were so overwhelmed by the fact that she did not have to use her savings for anything.

When the time came for Lisette to go off to college, Mr. Freeman, her mother and two siblings packed up their tuck and piled in to drive across the state to the windy city of Chicago.

The family and Lisette were so excited about her new journey, the first in her family to every attend college, so they helped her unpack and decorate her living quarters.

Later that evening they all had dinner together and meant her new roommate (Charlene), and her roommates’ family.

The two families trade stories, laughs, and prayed with the girls before both families hit the road back to their hometowns.

Lisette was enjoying the freedom and independence of living on her own, she was at the top of her class in all of her classes, and she was a columnist for the Universities monthly news publication.

During the summer she worked at the Chicago Tribune as an intern, she worked alongside to News Correspondence, and after her third year of internship, she was hired for a part-time position writing a column in the Tribune called "What you need to know in Chicago this week".

Lisette has not gone back home since she left for college, but she decided to visit in the Spring right before her graduation.

People were stopping by, dropping off home baked goods and all kinds of treats to welcome Lisette home.

Lisette was happy of see the love of her hometown pour their care and concern in her success.

As Lisette prepared to return to Chicago, and for her gradation, the family prepared for their trip to see Lisette accept her diploma from the University of Illinois with honors.

Now that graduation has passed and Lisette was offer full-time employment at the Tribune, she found herself a one-bedroom apartment right outside the city limits.

Years have gone by as she took her time to settle into her apartment, and purchase a used car.

She was living the single life in Chicago, and loving it.

Her family would come to visit from time to time, and she would roll out the carpet for them.

Life went on when her family left, driving up and down the highways to be a part of Lisette happy life, but soon and too soon life will take a turn for the worst and flip this country, world upside down, bring devastation to us all.

There's something brewing and hand already effected so many people, but we just don't realize how deeply this will destroy the way we are currently living.

The Tribune, news outlets, social media, etc. has everyone talking about a virus called "COVID". They are saying it is infecting people and hospitalizing them with respiratory failure by the hundreds, and they are expecting it to get worse.

The CDC has finally addressed the virus publicly and their concerns for us all, as the President has not called it what it is, nor spoke to the American people to console our fears.

But as the weeks passed by and by, the hospitals are filled to capacity, and are looking for space anywhere to care for the ill, and now death start to consume the people infected, and bodies are dropping by the hundreds daily, and hospitals are faced with trying to find space to store the bodies.

Loved one's are not able to say their goodbyes, and bodies are stacked in refrigerated trucks and buried in mass graves.

COVID has spread all over the world, as the United Stated and other Countries, declare a state of emergency, shelter in place, and mandated curfews are in place.

The streets in Chicago are no longer shuffling with people, they are bare, and scary, as non-emergency personnel are asked to work from home, as many restaurants hotels, places of worship and entertainment are forced to close their doors until...

Lisette was instructed to work from home, as she was responsible for providing as much information of the updates for the hospitals around town.

As the months went by, there were more and more deaths, fear has spread though the country like a wild fire, no one know what to think, who was next, will it end?

The leaders of our country and the CDC were at odds with one another, too much blame and not enough encouragement...hope for the people.

Businesses tried to hold on the keep some sense of normalcy, but there was no business, so some business closed for good, and some laid worker off.

The Tribune was one of those companies that laid off some of their employees, and Lisette was one on of them.

Lisette was great at saving money, as she lived very modestly, so she was able to live off of her savings for over a year, and as her money starts to diminish, her panic consumed her physical and mental being, she started to get sick, not with COVID, but experiencing a lot of anxiety attacks, where eventually Lisette had to move from the comfort of her one-bedroom apartment.

Lisette was able to get help and move her belongings to storage while she move in with her college roommate who lived alone.

As the virus infected more and more, people as there were more and more deaths.

Masks were being bought by the dozens, hand sanitizer was selling out, rubber gloves were being worn if you had to go out, we were all living on edge.

Hospital workers were getting sick, some had died or committed suicide, it was bad, but as the devastation grew Lisette and Charlene has each other since their families were miles away, and neither of them were able to leave.

Every day they woke up with the same routine, took turns going to the grocery store, drug store, gas for the cars, or whatever else needed to be done.

When it was Charlene's turn to run the errands, she never came back, she passed out in the grocery store and was taken to the hospital to later die.

Lissette was able to stay in the apartment and pack up Charlene's belongings until her parents came to pick them up, but after they left, Lisette has to move out.

With nowhere to go, and it was still risky to go home, since both her parents had underline illnesses, Lisette lived out of her car.

She parked her car in a quiet residential neighborhood that she knew was pretty safe, and with on money for food or gas, she took all non-perishable foods, plenty of water, PPE, meds and extra blankets, and did not move her care again.

But while packing up Charlene's apartment, Lisette took advantage of applying for her Unemployment, notifying credit card companies, calling her parents and telling them she's doing fine, which she clearly was not.

Lisette's unemployment was caught in a backlog of claims with no employees to process them, so she was not going to receive her unemployment as she thought, and would help her gas up her car and drive back home to Georgia.

By now Lisette was finding comfort in her car, and praying for some relief soon, and that relief came when a lady named Bernadette noticed her in her car for the last week as she peeped outside her window.

One day Mrs. Bernadette walked over to the car and asked her to come in a get something hot to eat, and take a hot shower, and Lisette obliged.

Ms. Bernadette felts sorry for Lisette after hearing her story, so she offered her a room at the rooming house she owned with no charge.

She explained to Lisette, that she can do some house chore to pay her way for the room until, and Lisette was so pleased to have this opportunity that she gladly returned the favor, buy doing chores and more.

Weeks are starting to pass by and Lisette still has not received her Unemployment, nor does the Unemployment website provide her any information or a status of when she can expect it.

Although she keeps certifying every week on a Sunday, paying her dues by doing chores wasn't enough, she wanted to do more, and needed an income to support herself with her personal responsibilities, so Lisette got a job shopping for the elderly in the pandemic, it was a way to pay for her room & board, maintain her car, and take care of her personal needs and responsibilities.

It's been almost a year living in Brenda's rooming house, and Lisette has made a home for herself along with the rest of the tenants, she found a new family, and she loves it.

But Brenda is getting tired, she purchases the walk-up tenement building when her husband died, and since she never had children, she felt the need to give back to others in need, who need, offering a decent place to stay, room, 3 meals daily, and on Holiday's a feast. There was also a lounge room, and a garden where she grew her vegetables and spices.

Brenda has grown tired, and was losing her sight due to her diabetes.

Lisette felt that she can be more of an assistance helping Mrs. Brenda manage the Rooming house.

As Brenda's conditioned worsened, she became less and less useful tending to the needs of her tenants and the maintenance of the house.

Days went by and she was not able to cooks dinner, and there was barely any food to feed the tenants and herself, so Lisette decided she will try to

cook dinner for everyone but knew her money was limited, so as she was driving to the store, she stopped at the ATM to check her account, and lost her breath...she speechless and motionless, she stopped to collect herself so that she did not draw attention to the shook of what she displayed on the screen, so much that she cancelled and started again, but the numbers did not change.

Unemployment deposited 15 months of back pay into Lisette’s bank account.

When Lisette finished shopping and arrived back to the house, she had a heart to heat talk with Brenda about purchasing the house from her, to continue her legacy in her name, and she agreed.

Four months after the sale of the house Mrs. Brenda’s died, and Lisette and her new family gave Mrs. Brenda’s the finest Home Going on could imagine, even Lisette's family took a ride up from Georgia to attended.

What is now known as "The Brenda's House" is completely renovated with up graded features, and has a full-time live-in assistant that cooks and assist with the house chores too!

Have faith and believe!