Skid Row

It was early in the morning. The sun shined down on the city of Green Fields.

Jody Dyson woke up for the morning in her cot at the Green Fields Homeless Shelter.

"What day is it? Tuesday. Another typical day, where I'm still at rock bottom..." Jody thought to herself.

At the Homeless Shelter, four other adults and a small child occupied the place. One tenant was Helena, a woman in her early twenties who had been kicked out of her house by her parents for getting pregnant out of wedlock and her three year old son, Simon. Another tenant was Bill, a software engineer that had lost his job, another tenant was Laura, a woman dealing with some kind of mental illness, and the last occupant of the Homeless Shelter was Phil, a recovering Drug addict.

Jody had been living in the Homeless Shelter for almost three months since her husband left her for another woman and she lost the lawsuit to keep the house in the divorce. She couldn't move back in with her parents because her parents lived out of town, so her only option was this shelter or the gutter.

Jody drover her car to work at the local 'Grande Latte' store where she worked at the drive thru. It was hard work, making sure the Order going out was the right one, dealing with Karens complaining about how their hot tea was "too hot", or that their Iced Coffee was "too cold", or that their Bagel "wasn't toasted the right way", and instructing the new employees, but at least Jody got health insurance and a free coffee drink or tea drink of her choice with a pastry or sandwich every day.

After putting in her 9-5 shift at the coffee place, Jody drove back to the Homeless Shelter.

When Jody entered the Homeless Shelter, she saw the Homeless Shelter's group of cooks volunteering to cook the night's dinner for the residents. Dinner for the night was Spaghetti and Meatballs, Biscuits with cups of vegetable oil spread, and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert that night.

Jody sat down at a fold up samsonite dinner table with a plate of food along with Helena, Simon, Bill, Laura and Phil. They barely knew each other, and yet they were having dinner together.

"We only know each other's names and why we're here in the first place, and yet here we are gathered at the fold up dining table, sharing a meal together." Jody thought to herself.

Jody Dyson woke up for the morning the next day.

"Wednesday...Another typical day..." she thought to herself.

She drove her used car to work at 'Grande Latte', working the drive thru, the new employees understood their jobs, and luckily not having to deal with any Karens for the day.

When Jody saw an african american man begging for spare change out the window, she went outside to talk to him.

"Excuse me, sir, but there's a shelter 2 blocks away that will feed you and give you a place to sleep for free." Jody said.

"Really? How do I get to it?" Asked the man.

Jody gave the man directions, the man then thanked her and went in the directions she gave him.

After her shift at the drive thru was over for the day, Jody drove her used car back to the Homeless Shelter to see the same fellow begging outside the coffee shop there.

Just a little later in the day, the Shelter volunteers cooked dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, and cups of strawberry yogurt for dessert.

"Attention everyone, we have a new occupant," started a volunteer, gesturing towards the new man from the chain store earlier that day. "His name is Kevin, He's a War Veteran who got into drinking after his Wife died, and he's going to be dining with us tonight."

And so Kevin sat at the fold up dining table with the group along with Jody, Helena, Simon, Bill, Laura and Phil. Jody looked at her food for a few moments, then at all the people at the fold up dinner table.

"Well, it looks like our group of Dinner Guests just got that much bigger now..." she thought to herself.

The next day, Jody drove her used car to work and discovered that she was getting a pay raise. The raise would pay just enough to make rent for an apartment 4 blocks away.

After work, Jody called the landlord of the apartment complex at the shelter and made an appointment to sign a lease.

She couldn't help but notice that Helena and Simon were absent from the shelter. When Jody asked about them, a volunteer explained that Helena went to live with her grandma and grandpa, and she took her son with her.

That night at the shelter they were serving chili and cornbread muffins with cups of vegetable oil spread for dinner and rice pudding for dessert.

"I guess this group of dinner guests is about to get that much smaller in about a week..." Jody thought to herself.

At that point, an elderly woman walked into the Homeless Shelter. "My rent got jacked up, and my retirement money doesn't provide me with enough to pay my rent, so I got evicted..." said the elderly woman.

A volunteer lead the woman to the dining table.

"We'll work on finding you a senior housing project, in the meantime, feel free to sit down and have a meal." Said the volunteer.

Jody laughed dryly.

"Well, it looks like I spoke too soon..." Jody thought to herself.

Jody, Laura, Bill, Kevin, Phil and the elderly woman hardly knew anything at all about each other except each other's names and why they were staying in the Homeless Shelter in the first place, and yet they were eating dinner together.

"Hopefully everyone here will get the chance to turn their life around like I got the chance to turn mine around..." Jody thought to herself.