~~Young~~

Chapter Twelve

   And would you look at that, now she was thinking about Gage again.

   But she pushed his face out of her mind as dragged her cart through the pools of light from the street lamps. She didn’t want to think about him now, no, she had no reason to be smiling when she knew where she was going.

   After about half an hour of navigating the streets she came to a familiar fork in the road and looked for directions from Mama. She never stayed in the same place for long, just a handful of weeks at the most. It was too dangerous for her and her kids if she made a permanent residence, then those looking for them would know where to find her. It was the same dozen or so rundown areas with their condemned housing or empty warehouses she and the other homeless grouped at. And she had a pattern that Sera had come to commit to memory. Last time she was under theBurrand Street bridge, so that meant this time she’d be over in the former textile district. Mama had told her their time was almost up last time she…visited.

   It honestly bothered Sera that she had a bed to go to, in a safe place, with cupboards stocked with food after she left. She wanted them to have it to, and Mama of all people deserved it. But, she had made that choice for herself. She told Sera she had left the same life of privilege Sera lurked on the edges of, it was paradise she said. She thought she could do more good there, on the streets, where the problems existed rather than waiting for them to come to her.

   The papers called her Vancouver’s Angel of Mercy. The untold amount of dumpster babies she had rescued just the beginning of what she did. As to her real name, well the papers never reported that, and Mama had never been compelled to tell Sera either.

   And there it was, caught in the wind was a tattered yellow ribbon hanging off the “keep out” sign on the chain link fence surrounding the old factory. So then Mama and her kids weren’t there. If they were then the ribbon would have been on the front door. But it was to the far right of the sign, not the left, so Sera went right. After a couple hundred more feet she saw another ribbon hanging on the fence itself. Giving the nearest post a shove it slid inwards, and after a quick glance around herself she slipped beyond the barrier with her goods in tow.

   It was harder now to see the markers. Away from the road and the street lights it was nearly pitch black in the empty parking lot. There was no moon tonight, and if Sera didn’t know better she would say it would rain. She just hoped it would hold off until she could get under cover. She hadn’t lied then when she told Gage she had a weak immune system, and being around all the sick she was about to it would certainly compromise her system.

   And again there was Gage.

   She didn’t have a lot of time to think about him though, not once her cart tried to tip over when one of its wheels sunk into a pot hole in the asphalt. She cursed but managed to keep her load in the carriage. But all the rattling as she maneuvered over the uneven ground finally grabbed some attention, and looking across to the loading docks she saw an amber beam cutting across the night.

   Mama.

   She picked up speed having a destination and rounded the corner to see Mama herself standing on the edge of the concrete landing. She had a look that Sera couldn’t emulate no matter how much she tried, not without living on the streets for years. She probably had on three or four layers of tattered and dingy tops that hung from just above her waist to her feet, her pants looked to be in good shape for once, but her shoes looked as if they were one puddle away from giving up. Which was pretty typical for her, but what set her apart from the others was her face. Sure she had all the stress lines around her mouth and eyes from so much grimacing, and her hair no matter how tightly she pulled it back frizzed away from her head, but there was no hardness there. She may have suffered in all the ways a woman would on the streets, had to fight for her life and body, for a place to sleep, for her kids, but it hadn’t made her cold.