It’s Sunday.
Which means that Saturday is over. I can write about it now that the much anticipated day is over but I still don’t believe what happened.
Last week I was feeling peaceful yet counting down the days until Saturday which was my last day on campus. I weighed my options, which weren’t many. With no money and no job and my last few feature articles not being run until next month so I won’t receive a check from them until then, I have nothing really.
The dorm room saved me, but now even that was coming to an end. It’s a strange thing really, even though I knew I had no options for housing, I felt so good about everything. I felt peace.
The Young Man that I hung out on campus with last week was in a similar situation. He and his girlfriend planned to move into a motel for the month between school and moving into their apartment. He offered to let me stay with him and his girl if I had nowhere to go. I thanked him and declined figuring something better would come along.
I moved out of my dorm room and met my old college friends at a wedding when I got a text from the Young Man asking me if I had figured out what I was going to do.
I didn’t reply at first. My last option was going to my Mama and asking if I could move back in, but I already knew how that would go.
“You ain’t comin back up in here!” she screamed and I shook my head and walked back out to my car. “Aight, Ma. I’ll call you later.”
I decided to use my loose change to buy snacks and drive to the beach. I figured if nothing else, I could sleep there because it’s peaceful and lots of people are on the beach at night doing the same thing.
I drove to the beach and the sun was still out. I watched as the sky turned dark and the beach emptied out. The only people left on the sand under the moon were people like me, who had nowhere else to go, or lovers sitting by the water’s edge cuddling.
A group of guys approached me to introduce themselves. They told me that they lived on the beach and were looking for work. I didn’t share my situation, I just listened politely and told them they would make it.
“I have to tell you something,” one of the men said. “The reason I came over here is because when I walked by you I was drawn to your spirit. I really want you to know that whatever is going on in your life right now will be resolved. The Lord is with you. Bless you.”
When he said that, I said goodbye to him and turned to the ocean, offering up another quick prayer.
My phone chimed alerting me to a text message.
It was the Young Man. “Shorty, where r u? U ok?”
“I’m at the beach. Gonna sleep here.” I texted him.
“What? Well, we might be joining you. The motel we were gonna stay up quoted me a diff price when we went to check in. Now we short about $100 dollars. Do you have any money shorty? If not, we’ll all be sleeping on the beach tonight. LOL”
I had just checked my account.
All I had was $141 and I had put gas earlier so it was probably less.
“I have $100” I texted him back.
He called my phone and we talked about me putting in on the room for a month. She had come up with half and he had come up with the other half and with my money, the room would be paid for, for a month.
I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to freak out my friends but I had to have a conversation about this so I called Tamara. “I don’t know dawg,” she said. “We need to call Anna.”
While Tamara called Anna to explain the situation and ask for advice, the Young Man called me back to see if I was still interested in rooming with them.
I got the text from Tamara as he and I were talking about it all.
“Anna said you betta suck that shit up and join them,” the text read.
“Alright. I think I’m going to do it,” I told him.
“Ok, good. Now we all have somewhere to sleep this month. Just meet up with me at the motel in 30 minutes.”
I drove over to the motel and shook my head. Disgusting. But..it was better than sleeping on the beach with the beach bums.
I called my Mama to let her know I was okay and I shook my head at her response.
“Good job!” she squealed. “I KNEW you could do it! You and your little homeless friends go ahead and move into your room and get settled. I KNEW you could do it! You’re gonna thank me for this one day, Tee.”
I rolled my eyes at the phone and laughed.
“Aight Mama.”
We unpacked our bags, took showers and sat down to watch TV before falling asleep. I could barely sleep with all the roaches on the walls and the sounds of loud thumps throughout the night. I was so scared. But I kept telling myself, “You’re okay. You’re okay.”
I turned over to see the Young Man and his girl fast asleep beside me.
Yep, one king sized bed for all 3 of us. The Young Man said there were no other options.
Hmm…
~shakes head~
Man…
I have a job interview at Denny’s on Monday morning. And I have orientation for another job in 2 weeks. Both of them are hustling type gigs where the money you make is based on how well you do. But I have this child support to pay and I have to find a place to live.
Something is gonna give…
Something is gonna happen soon.