short-term homeless shelter, Alessa and Lucy headed down Market Street. While the child chattered away, believing this journey into the unknown was an exciting adventure, Alessa was overwhelmed by doubt. With a deeper insight into the uncertainty in store for them, she was terrified, even as she feigned enthusiasm. She didn’t know where to go or whom to turn to for help. They spent the day begging for spare change. When dusk descended, Alessa led Lucy to a local church where she knew they might get beds for the night.
They stood in line for three hours with the rest of the crowd until the church doors opened. The homeless people waiting with them were a jumble of old and young, men and women, and included almost every nationality under the sun. That night, they slept in cots. The room was spacious, reminding Alessa of her high school gym, and accommodated two hundred cots, each equipped with sheets and a wool blanket. After Alessa and Lucy had claimed their cots, they made their way to the food line, where they were given beef stew, string beans, and bread. Both were so delighted to have a hot meal in a heated place, they didn’t notice how soggy and tasteless the stew was. After their meal, they found the ladies’ room and joined the other homeless women and children in cleaning themselves at the sinks, showers being an unavailable luxury in an emergency shelter.
When they returned to their cots, their coats were missing. All that remained were the old, tattered T-shirts they had left along with the coats on each cot to stake their claim. Alessa panicked. Taking Lucy by the hand, she went off to find one of the volunteers.
A tall, thin, dark-eyed woman with a long face listened to their complaint. “Oh my! I’m so sorry to hear you lost your coats. This often happens with so many of you in need. You should never leave your coats or anything of value unattended. We have a stock of extra clothing for emergencies. Let me check and see what we can find for you.”
The two headed back to their cots. Alessa could not forgive herself for being stupid enough to leave their coats unattended. Having spent months on the streets, she should have known it would happen. While most homeless people were kind, others were cruel and would do anything at all to meet their needs. In the world of the homeless, you kept an eye on your belongings at all times. Alessa hoped the volunteer could find them decent coats before they left the church in the morning.
Two hours later, the woman appeared carrying two coats. Alessa’s heart sank when she realized they were men’s coats. They were so large she knew the cold air would blow right through them. But they had little choice. They would have to make do with them. Alessa took the coats from the woman and thanked her politely.
The two slept that night with their coats on, fearful these too would be stolen if they weren’t careful. The night was long and unsettling, filled with noises of children crying, adults snoring, and people yelling out in their sleep.
In the morning, Alessa and Lucy carried all of their belongings with them, as they stood in line to get breakfast. They had to be out of the shelter by 10 a.m. and couldn’t go back until it opened again at five in the evening.
They spent the day wandering around the city. They begged for money and huddled together in the doorways of buildings until they were chased away. They spent two dollars of their day’s earnings on cups of hot chocolate at a deli. They stayed inside the restaurant for as long as they could, each sipping her cup of gold slowly without arousing suspicion.
Back out on the street, the sky was cloudy. The wind whipped through the gaps between the large buildings, chilling them to the bone. That afternoon, on their way back to the shelter, they paused outside a pizzeria long enough to look in through the window and observe people eating and chatting and laughing.
Alessa hugged Lucy close, trying to keep the wind from ripping the flesh off her bones. A couple came out of the pizzeria and glanced over at them. The man and woman appeared to be in their late twenties. They walked past the girls but stopped abruptly a few feet beyond them. The woman turned back and approached Alessa and Lucy. In her hands was a box containing slices of pizza left over from their dinner. She handed it to Alessa and smiled at her. “You know, we’ve already eaten, and there were some slices we couldn’t finish. Would you like them?”
“Yes, that would be great. We’d love them,” Alessa replied, embarrassed, taking the box from the woman. “Thank you.”
The two girls sat on the cold pavement, forgetting everything for the ten minutes they took to gobble down the slices and appease their hunger. Then they made their way back to the church by 2 p.m. to stand in line for the next three hours so they could get a cot again that night. When they were allowed inside, Alessa told Lucy to go get their food while she stayed with their belongings. She didn’t want to risk being robbed again. By the time Lucy came back, Alessa had seen enough of her surroundings to decide they would have to find another place to stay.
The next morning, Alessa stood at the sink while Lucy washed her face. “We can’t sleep here anymore. We’ll need to find somewhere else to go at night.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Why? What’s wrong with this place?”
She leaned in closer to the child. “It’s not safe here, Lucy. I won’t keep you somewhere that you can get hurt.”
She chose not to divulge the details of the scene she had witnessed inside the church while Lucy was getting their dinner. One homeless man had robbed another of his gloves by threatening him with a knife. Alessa couldn’t get the scene out of her mind and barely slept that night, worried for Lucy’s safety.
As they left the shelter, Alessa realized they would have to find another group of teens they could bond with. It was the only way to remain safe when homeless.
The two made their way into West Philly. Alessa had heard of the several abandoned houses there, where homeless people were squatting for the winter. She banked on the hope they would find a compatible group to settle in with.
