He had never seen so many homeless people in one place lined up.
"We should have come earlier," the girl in front of him said to her companion.
"We should but we couldn't," he admitted. "Without money there's no way the 'Good Samaritans' let us spend the night you know what the charge is."
She nodded and he knew it too. Who had ever thought he would spend Thanksgiving in a home run by the 'Good Samaritans', Germans! For God's sake. They only asked 1 buck while the other homes charged 2.50 to spend the night, 'sleep' in a filty bed. How his world had changed within only a few months time. He had studied. Not because he could afford it but he had tightened the belt for many years. Success came and left him from one moment to the next.
"What will we do if they don't let us in," she asked.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and mumbled something like they would because they were the Samaritans and ought to reach out to others, give a hand, safe lives. He noticed how she looked upon him. The eyes of a child still believing in good fairies, the ability of the man next to her to change bad into good. The moment she lost faith would arrive soon enough...
It became colder and the chain of desperate people grew. He looked at the sky above his head and tried to ignore the tumult at the front of the row. Shouting, a fight, shotguns, screaming, ambulances, the police asking to be patient.
Two hours later as he laid on a bed he heard her voice.
"Thank you lord for taking care of us, this bed and the meal. Amen."
'Thank you lord'? If there was a Lord how come he didn't care about those other folks, not made people care about each other? He had seen the bodies, saw and smelled the blood, heard the laughter in the back and what the police said as they finally let him inside.
"Happy Thanksgiving. Let's end this mess and go home celebrating."
I would love to read more of this story. It has a haunting plot that makes one wonder, who is he really? What's next on his mind? It's something I would write! Loved it!