SWNOVELS BELIEVE LIKE A CHILD: Chapter 54
for the threesome. Alessa and Remo were deeply in love, and Lucy was like their natural-born child. Alessa continued with her college education. On weekends, they spent time together, walking the city streets, talking to homeless people, and helping them in little ways. Sometimes, it was lending someone a shoulder to cry on. Other times, it meant buying people a soda or a cup of coffee. The three of them loved helping people in need. Now that Remo was better acquainted with life on the streets by listening to Alessa and Lucy’s account of their own experiences, he had become more deeply involved than ever in helping the homeless in as many ways as he could.
Alessa had a special connection with the homeless. It was clear to all that she was genuine and spontaneous in her encounters with everyone. She was loved and looked up to by the homeless community. She was particularly effective with young teenage girls, building a relationship with each one by sharing her own story. Disarmed by her honesty, they put their wariness aside and opened up to her, trusting her quickly. When Remo witnessed the closeness she shared with these people who had, not so long ago, been virtual strangers, he felt lucky to have Alessa in his life. He marveled at the way she did it all so naturally, without ever being condescending to them or believing she was doing them a favor.
“I’m like them,” she would remind him. “They’re people with a story, looking for a happy ending. I know what it’s like to be there and how hard it is to be so alone, even when you’re with other homeless people. It was a struggle every day to remember I was a person, a human being. I had to keep telling myself that I deserved a better life. People who lead regular lives saw me on the streets and pretended I didn’t exist. They’d look the other way or rush to the other side of the street after making eye contact with me. I used to think they were afraid that if they looked at me or acknowledged me, they’d attract the bad luck that put me on the streets in the first place. After a while, I became invisible. Then I’d have to remind myself that I’m only homeless. It’s very humbling to have been homeless, Remo. My own experience makes it impossible for me to be judgmental about others.”
Lucy and Alessa often talked to Remo about their misfortune of having been homeless. They described where they had lived and slept. Lucy would tell him about how she had learned to beg and pick through garbage for food and household items they needed. She took great pride in relating these stories because, to her way of thinking, it had to do with skills she had acquired that Remo hadn’t because he had never been homeless. She felt that in some ways, she knew more than he, an adult, did. Remo encouraged her to confide in him and couldn’t help admiring the two girls, who had learned to be so resourceful while living on the streets. They all felt fortunate to have found each other, and Lucy, especially, believed herself to be the luckiest girl in the world, protected and loved by both the adults.
One night, after a long, hard day, Remo and Alessa had just finished dinner at his apartment and were relaxing in his living room, chatting the way they usually did.
“You know being with you has made me a happy man,” Remo purred. “I was thinking it’s time to do something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.”
“Oh really? Like what?” Alessa asked excitedly.
“I was thinking I’d get a two-bedroom apartment near here, so Lucy and you could move in with me.”
Alessa hadn’t expected him to make such an offer. After all, she was still going to school and wasn’t making her own money yet. Plus, it was a commitment to Lucy, whom she’d never want to disappoint. It was a lot for him to take on. Until now, they had been playing house, so to speak.
Trying to rein in her happiness, she said, “Remo, there’s nothing I’d love more, but you realize that Lucy is young, and I’m only twenty. It’s a big commitment for you, and I don’t expect you to do this for us.”
Remo wrestled her lovingly off the sofa and onto the floor. “I know what I’m doing,” he said confidently. “Look, we practically live together now. We do everything but sleep under the same roof. I want to be with you, and you know how much I love Lucy. Don’t be such a downer. Come on, Alessa, let’s give it a whirl. I can cook, you know.”
Alessa laughed. “So now you think you can bribe me with cooking? Well, okay, that works. Lucy will be out-of-her-mind giddy when I tell her. When does your chariot pick us up with all of our shit?”
The moment Alessa got home that night, she called Ebby to give her the news. Ebby was happy for them all. She had known this was coming. Remo had called Ebby earlier and felt her out on the idea before springing it on Alessa. He had been nervous about scaring her off and had wanted reassurance from Ebby it would work.
“I think it’s wonderful, Alessa,” Ebby said. The three of you are very happy together, and God knows you all deserve to be happy. Enjoy the moment and try to hold the feeling you have in your heart so that you can keep it forever.”
During the month that followed, Alessa, Lucy, and Remo were busy looking for an apartment that was right for them. While he made a decent living as a physical therapist, Remo wasn’t wealthy, and Alessa confessed how guilty she felt about not contributing financially. She knew that once she left public housing, she would lose her food stamps. She told Remo about the thirty thousand dollars she had in a safety deposit box, but he insisted that she keep the money. Someday, it would come in handy when either she or the three of them were planning to buy a house.
“You danced your ass off to save that money,” Remo reminded her. “So someday, you can have a home of your own. The money stays put until you’re ready to do that. We’ll manage fine with the money I earn until you get your degree and start your new career.”
After a month of searching and looking at apartments all over the city, a two-bedroom opened up in Remo’s building. The three went to see it immediately. Remo filled out the application form and wrote a deposit check. The woman who had shown them the apartment told them they could have it right away. Since Remo had lived in the same building for years, she wasn’t worried about waiting for the application to be processed. Lucy talked incessantly about how Remo would paint her new room purple and how much bigger their new apartment was, compared to the one they were living in now.
It was a peaceful and happy time for them. Alessa often reflected on her life, unable to convince herself that it was finally coming together in such a smooth way, unhindered by obstacles. She believed in fate and tried to glean and cherish the positive elements in every adverse situation she had been thrown into. She told herself that if all those terrible things hadn’t happened to her, she wouldn’t have had Remo and Lucy in her life today. The way she saw it, they were all meant to happen to bring this precious moment into her life.
“Sure,” she told God one night, “it didn’t have to be a complete disaster from the moment I was born, and I could have done without all the abuse. But thanks for sending Remo and Lucy to me. I’d say you’ve redeemed yourself with me. Please keep the good stuff coming my way and send the bad crap to the bad people. Now there’s an idea. Amen.”
Alessa’s education was coming along well. She had decided, long before Remo asked her to move in with him, that she would get a four-year degree in psychology. She wanted to use it to help homeless people and abandoned or lost children living on the streets. She wanted, more than ever, to be an advocate for others, the way Ebby had been for her. She understood the importance of helping someone pick up the pieces of their life from the gutter. Lucy was doing well in school. She was a bright child and a unique one. Her experiences had made her more compassionate and understanding than most of her peers. Her teachers and classmates loved her. Back-to-school night was always a treat for Alessa because everyone told her how lucky she was to have a sister like Lucy. No one needed to remind her about this. She already knew how fortunate she was to be given the privilege of loving a child like Lucy.