The Assumption

Ally’s dream was to be a fashion designer. She hoped to design wedding gowns someday. Her mother, a well-known Artist, had showings in several elite galleries in New York City. She inherited her mother’s artistic talent. Ally loved everything about the fashion world. After graduation, she applied to the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology. When she received her acceptance letter, her dream came true.

Ally was in her room studying when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” she said. One of her friends said “Phone call Ally.” The man said it was urgent.” “Did he say who it was?” She asked. “No, he asked to speak to Alisha Spencer.” Ally took the phone and said “Hello”. “Is this Alisha Spencer?”, the official-sounding voice asked. “Yes”, said Ally. “Are you Richard and Denise Spencer’s daughter,” he asked. Suddenly feeling frightened, “Yes”, Ally stated. “Who is this?” “This is Officer Yates with the NY State Police”. He said. “Your parents were involved in a traffic accident on parkway S last night, I’m sorry but they were both killed.” Ally couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing. “Wait, my parents are dead?” Ally stammered. “What happened?” Ally asked. The officer explained the investigation was ongoing but they had determined that more than likely her father fell asleep at the wheel, drove over the embankment, hit a tree and the car burst into flames. 

Ally had spoken to her Mom yesterday and she had said they were going to an awards ceremony in the city for Artist of the Year that evening. Her Dad was tired since he worked a full 10-hour shift that day. Ally couldn’t believe her parents were gone. There was no family to care for her brother and sister, she was the only one. She would have to leave school and move back home. She found a job as an administrative assistant at a fashion magazine thanks to one of her professors. So at least she was still in contact with the fashion world. 

Ally walked her dog every evening. Tool was a purebred German Shepherd. Tool was well trained and was very protective of his family. The little corner market was on the path that Ally walked Tool. She would see the homeless people gathered around the metal can with the fire in it getting warm. She always put her head down or looked straight ahead when she walked past the market to avoid any of the homeless engaging her in conversation. She had heard horror stories about how some of the homeless men had accosted other females that were either inside the market or walking past. Although she felt relatively safe with her German Shepherd beside her, she didn’t want to put him in a position to defend her. 

Several homeless people hung out behind the market where the owner had placed a metal can which he lit a fire inside for the many homeless that congregated in the back parking lot. He allowed them to gather some warmth before they made their way to wherever they sheltered for the night. Ally saw Mr. Ballcap standing near the fire laughing and talking with the other homeless men on many occasions. She always thought how sad that such a good-looking man was living on the streets. She assumed he was one of the homeless men.

Garrett finished working on the old mansion he was restoring early today. He made it a habit to stop at the market every evening and visit with the homeless men that gathered in the back parking area. He sometimes brought them coffee, a sandwich, or pizza. He enjoyed standing around the fire listening to their stories every evening. Garrett had begun staying in the toolshed of the old mansion while he restored it because he didn’t like the drive back into the city. The traffic was horrible and normally it took him 2 to 3 hours to get home. He had converted the tool shed to a bachelor apt before the project began so he could stay there while he worked on the property. It was small but met his needs. Often he would drive into the city for a day to check on his house and gather the mail. He figured this project would take him the better part of six months to complete so the toolshed/bachelor apt was working out nicely. Garrett had just ended a relationship before starting this project. He was done dating and had no desire to date another gold digger. His last girlfriend had tried everything she could to get him to marry her and became angry and nasty when he told her the one thing missing in their relationship was love. He assumed there were no women left that didn’t only care about his money. No one knew where this project was and he was able to avoid everyone. 

Garret was a contractor with Elite Construction. The company was founded by his Grandfather Joseph Ford. When Garret’s grandfather Joseph was a young boy his parents had died. He had no living relatives. To stay out of the foster care system, he ran away to New York City. He figured he could get lost from the authorities in the big city. When Joseph arrived in New York City he had nowhere to go and no money. 

Joseph slept at a youth hostel at night. He didn’t like the feeling of the place though so he always stayed out by the railroad tracks with the other homeless until it was just before curfew at the hostel. After several weeks in New York City, Joseph was walking towards the train tracks and saw a lady had fallen on the side of the road. He ran to her and asked if he could help her. She had slipped off the curb and sprained her ankle. Joseph helped her up and walked with her into the closest shop, asked for a chair she could sit in then called her husband for her and explained what happened. That small act of kindness changed Joseph’s life forever. The woman’s husband came to help her. He gave Joseph his card and told him to come and see him the next day.

Joseph walked the three miles to the address on the business card. It was a trailer on a construction site. The man introduced himself as John Bishop. He was a general contractor and was doing a million-dollar construction project in the heart of the city. He asked Joseph why he was hanging out at the train tracks. Joseph explained his story of losing his parents, arriving in New York with no money and nowhere to go. The only place he felt safe was with the other homeless people at the train station. 

Mr. Bishop offered him a job. Joseph was to begin staying in a trailer on the construction site. He would pay him to be a security guard and, Mr. Bishop was going to teach him all about construction. Joseph learned all he could from Mr. Bishop. Five years later, Joseph felt ready to start on his own. He started his own construction company and over the years it gained the reputation of the top construction company in New York. When Garret’s father graduated college after having spent many years working closely with his father Joseph, He joined the company also. The proudest day for both Grandfather and Father was when Garret graduated college and joined the company. Three generations of expert workmanship had made the company a name. Grandpa Joseph spent many afternoons telling his grandson Garret about his time as a homeless person, he advised Garret to never look down on the homeless and to remember that but by the grace of God, he too could be homeless one day. When Joseph’s company began flourishing he always took time to visit the homeless area in his hometown and pass out hot pizza or sandwiches.

When Ally was away at school, she managed to come home whenever they had a three day weekend. She would always take her little brother and sister to the coffee shop to get a drink. They always thought it made them so grown up to go with their big sister to the coffee house. Ally loved her Mocha Lattes. She indulged whenever she could. She always got her brother and sister a vanilla frappuccino. After their parents died, Ally tried to take them every couple of weeks to the coffee house and get them their favorite drink. Usually, she reserved Saturday afternoons for their indulgence. Although her parents had left a small life insurance policy, Ally had opened college funds for both of them and the rest she put in a savings account in case of an emergency. She was determined to raise them on her salary and not have to withdraw anything from the savings. They walked into the coffee shop that afternoon. And Ally saw Mr.Ballcap sitting at a table by himself reading some papers. She started referring to him as Mr. Ballcap in her mind because he always had on the dirty blue baseball cap. She was surprised to see him inside the coffee house. She was even more surprised to see that he was a lot younger than she had thought. He was quite fit too. He was wearing an old pair of jeans, a raggedy pair of workbooks, and his broad chest stretched the limits of the t-shirt that he wore. His biceps were well defined and he looked like he was strong and fit. She couldn’t understand why a young strong man like him was living on the streets. She figured he must be an alcoholic or drug addict. Her father had told her a lot of the homeless people either had mental health issues or substance abuse problems. So involved in assessing him as she stood in line, she was caught off guard when she looked up and saw him staring at her. She quickly turned away and was glad when the barista called her up to take her order. She ordered their drinks and as she went to pay, Sabrina asked, “Ally could we please please have a cake pop too?” Then of course Jeffrey piped in and not to be outdone, said, “Yeah Mom, could we have a cake pop?”

Allie then scolded him saying “haven’t I told you don’t call me Mom.” Jeffrey said, “Jeez Ally lighten up”. The three of them had been talking at dinner last night, discussing their circumstances and the children had teased her that she was no longer their big sister, now she was their Mom. They teased her relentlessly for hours, Saying “Mom, can we have this or Mom, can we have that.” Ally told them she didn’t think that was funny and it felt as though they were dishonoring their Mother. 

Garrett listened to their exchange and it made him angry. He was convinced this woman was a gold digger just like all the rest. He was even more disgusted that she even went so far as to not allow her children to call her Mom. She was probably on the lookout for a new sugar daddy and didn’t want to lower her chances by having children. He wondered just what excuse she would give the future sugar daddy once she got her talons into him as to who these children were. He could see the family resemblance and was sure they were her children. His friends couldn’t understand why he was so down on women and this just reinforced his feelings. They were all gold diggers to some extent. 

Ally was walking her dog on Sunday afternoon. Her siblings had stayed the weekend with their friends so she found herself alone for the first time in a long time so she decided to walk her dog further than she normally did and explore the town. She came across old Mrs. McPhersons’ place. It was the biggest home in the entire town. The townspeople always referred to it as the mansion. It has suffered a lot over the years and Ally noticed all the scaffolding that was put up around it and was glad to see it was being renovated finally. It was a beautiful home and would be an asset once again when it was finished. Since no one seemed to be staying on the property, Ally decided to wander around the property and let Tool sniff some new scents. As she rounded the side by the garage she noticed that the old toolshed at the back of the property looked like someone had cleaned it up. The windows were new, there even seemed to be a fresh coat of paint on the outside. Suddenly, the door opened, and out stepped Mr. Ballcap himself. Ally almost died. She said, “Oh my gosh, you scared me.” He said, “Can I help you with something?” Ally took a step back and didn’t quite know what to say. “I don’t think you should be inside of there.” She finally choked out. “Excuse me, I don’t believe you should be on this property.” He said. Ally was thinking he had broken into the toolshed and was staying there without the McPhersons permission. Ally looked him in the eyes and said “ I don’t believe the McPhersons want homeless people staying in their toolshed either.” Garret looked at her and shook his head. He could see she assumed because she had seen him visiting the homeless behind the market, that he too was homeless. She had turned up her nose at him and refused to make eye contact with him. He thought she felt he was beneath her since he was a homeless man. 

Ally didn’t quite know what to do. She was on a vacant property and if this homeless guy decided to accost her no one would be able to hear her screams. She thought maybe if she screamed Tool would attack him and save her but the big lug was pushing up to him and wagging his tail. 

“Look”, Ally said, “how about you gather whatever meager possessions you have inside and be on your way and I won’t say anything to anyone.”

Garret was so angry, he took a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, took a business card out, and handed it to her. Ally looked at the card, felt the color rise in her cheeks. It read Elite Construction, Garret Ford, General Contractor with his picture. “Are you the contractor working on this project?” Ally asked, embarrassment making her voice tremble. “Yep, I am,” Garret said. “Maybe you should ask before you make assumptions.” Garret looked at her with disgust, and said “Why don’t you go back to your children, maybe try being a Mother!” Ally was shocked at the way he spoke to her. He seemed angry with her. She couldn’t imagine why. She had only been thinking of the McPhersons when she thought he was a homeless man that had broken into the toolshed. Ally stuck out her hand, “Mr. Ford, perhaps we should start over. I am Ally Spencer.” The big lug here is Tool. Pleased to meet you.” Garret looked her over for a second too long and finally shook her hand. “It seems I assumed you were homeless, I apologize.” Ally said.

Just then the neighbor, Mr. Jones approached. “Everything all right here, Ally?” He said. “Everything is fine, Mr. Jones,” replied Ally. “How are your brother and sister doing?” “I wanted to tell you how proud all of us are, of how well you are doing bringing them up.” “I know your parents would be so proud of you.” He stated. Tears came to Ally’s eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Jones.” “That is sure nice of you to say that.” “It is difficult at times because it is hard being a Mother and a Big Sister all wrapped in one.” “They are great kids though and although we miss our parents we are managing.” Ally said. Garret looked from Mr. Jones to Ally and said, “So, those two children I saw you with at the coffee house, they are not your children, they are your brother and sister?” “Yes,” Ally replied. “You thought they were my children? You see, our parents were killed in a car crash about 3 years ago and I had to leave school and become a “Mom” at 25 yrs old since there was no other living family to care for them.” She said. “That was a very commendable thing to do,” Garret said. “It seems we both made assumptions without knowing the whole story.” 

Garret walked into the coffee shop on Saturday afternoon. He noticed right away that Ally and her siblings were sitting at their usual table. He ordered his coffee and walked towards them. “May I join you?” Garret asked. “Sure thing,” Ally said. “How is the project coming along?” Ally asked. “We are making lots of progress.” Said Garret. Ever since the fiasco at the property, Ally had made it a habit to stop by the McPherson property and say Hello to Garret when she was out walking Tool. They both had come to realize that they had made horrible assumptions about one another. Garret was not a homeless man. He was a contractor with an excellent reputation. Ally was not a Gold digger Mama, looking for a sugar daddy to take care of her and her children. She and Garret found they liked one another. Ally kept hoping Garret would ask her out. They both enjoyed spending time together talking getting to know one another. 

The kids went to go play the claw game and Garret saw his chance, “Ally,” he asked,” would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?” Ally smiled and replied, “Yes, Garret, I think I would like that very much.”