The Girl from the Lane. – Installment #4

“Why didn’t you take the money in the purse and keep it to yourself? “ the lady asked.
“Because it wasn’t mine to take, and furthermore, I work here” Sheila replied.
The woman studied her for a few seconds before she begun again. “You could have disappeared. You realize how much money is in this purse?” she was waiting for a response.
“Plenty” came Sheila’s reply, “But I was more concerned in getting it back to the owner, so I focused on finding a number… so that I could contact you.”
The woman was not particularly prepared for such a response. In 1982, at the current rates of exchange, $70,000.00 was a fair amount of money in Jamaica. As she studied the face of the waitress standing before her, she wondered whether the roles had been reversed that she would return the purse and even before completing the thought, knew that she wouldn’t have. She shuffled the notes and selected a US$100.00 bill which she handed to Sheila.
“No…, no thank you ma’am. You don’t need to do that” She backed away as she spoke.
“I insist” the woman replied.
“And I insist that I don’t want it” came Sheila’s reply. “I just wanted you to get your purse back, that’s all”
“So, will you allow me to reward you somehow…. some way?” She recognized that the girl before her was quite serious. “Are you comfortable in this job, do they pay you well? We have a nice canteen at my office and we could really use some good help.”
Sheila studied her for a moment. Maybe that was why she was always eating at the restaurant. The food at her office was no good. There was no other possible reason. She thought about the question, especially about the pay. It was small, but the tips made a big difference. “Well…. It’s all right, especially when I get good tips” she explained.
“You have children?”
“Yes ma’am”
“How many?”
“Two”.
“I bet you don’t have any medical benefits for yourself, nor your children” the woman stated. Sheila shook her head. “We will offer you those benefits… send you back to school too.”
“But you don’t know me, so why are you being so generous…. I hope you don’t think….”
“Listen” the woman countered, “Anyone who would do something like this must be a good person. I can’t force you to accept my offer. I just think you could use a break, and the rest is up to you. You seem an intelligent girl and if you take this attitude into a work environment that has great structure, more opportunities for advancement, you could go far. Think about it and give me a call” She handed Shiela her business card and was gone.
“Don’t take too long though…” Sheila had remembered those parting words from Mrs. Martin and they stayed with her all that night. She couldn’t wait to get to the restaurant the following morning to make the call. After all, what did she have to lose?

Four weeks later she was working with Mrs. Martins’ company. She had a work Identification card, plus the company paid a bonus at the end of the year. She had a medical scheme that covered her children health as well. To top it off, the pay was better than what she was getting at the restaurant. Even after accounting for the tips.

It was incredulous that neither herself nor her children had suffered any visible injuries from the accident. She needed to get confirmation from the doctors at the Children’s Hospital in the city and the thought had triggered her revisitation of that first exchange with Mrs. Martin.

“You okay, ma’am, are you OK.” The policeman was searching her face for a response. The crying from Newton in spite of his mother’s efforts to comfort him caused the policeman to be more insistent. He stuffed the three in the back of the patrol car, and turned on the siren. Like the Red Sea, the traffic just seemed to separate as the policeman skillfully glided the patrol car through the mountain of traffic, the siren wailing ahead of the flashing blue lights atop the vehicle.
“I am going to go to Public” the driver of the patrol car stated. This was the acronym for the Kingston Public Hospital in the heart of downtown. Public was the most famous trauma hospital in the Caribbean, but its reputation for long waiting was legendary.
“No, no” Sheila quickly responded. “Go to Children’s”
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