NEED A TITLE
I was made aware of NaNoWriMo season and so I thought I would go ahead and post how far I have gone at writing a story. I probably won't succeed at writing 50,000 words this month but for what time I have available. I'm not saying it's any good, just that I would post it. Maybe you'll enjoy it? and maybe even leave comments or thoughts about which direction I should go now. This is not a romance story. Theodora.
(c) 2020
It was Christmas Eve and my arms were loaded with gifts. I was headed for my car when a homeless person approached me and asked if I had any money I could spare. I opened the car’s trunk and dropped the gifts in. Then I turned to the woman and offered to buy her a meal. We walked over to the Carl’s Jr restaurant; I told her to order anything she wanted. I reached into my purse to pull out my wallet, but it was missing. (How do I express that I’m distressed?) “Oh no, my wallet is gone!,” I cried. My heart started pounding and I felt a strong need to sit down and cry. I turned away from the woman and the counter and went to find a seat. I had to think. How and why was my wallet missing?
The woman followed me to the table and asked, “So, does this mean I don’t get a meal? Were you just taunting me? That’s a cruel joke to play!” I looked up, shocked at her insensitivity. “This is no joke. I had fully intended to buy you a meal but now my wallet is missing!” I responded with frustration. “Now I need to figure out where I might have left it or how it has gone missing.”
I decided to walk back to the car and double-check the trunk. The woman followed me, I suppose, still hopeful to get that meal. When we got to the car I looked in the trunk, moving the packages around, but there was no wallet. I searched my memory. It must be at the last store I was at. So we walked into the Mall. I went to the check-out stand I had used: “Excuse me,” I said to the clerk, “did I leave my wallet behind?” He said no. “How might I find out if someone else had found it and turned it into the store?” He suggested, “check with Customer Service. You’ll find them over there, in the hallway to the left,” as he pointed in that direction. At Customer Service they said that no wallet had been turned in.
When we came out of the store it was snowing and there were Carolers singing on the street corner, but I was in tears. I took out my cellphone and called my family to let them know what was happening and why I was late coming home. Then I called the police to report my wallet was missing. They said I needed to come in to the Main Station and file a report. I turned to the woman and told her that I was sorry that I couldn’t help her. I asked her if I could drive her somewhere to get a meal or a bed, but I didn’t know where to go.
We got into my car and headed for the police station.
Arriving at the police station I parked the car and we walked into the station. The officer behind the window asked me, “How can I help you?”
“I want to report I’ve lost my wallet. But first, do you have any food that you can give to this woman? I was going to buy her some breakfast when I discovered my wallet was missing.”
The officer paused, then said, “Let me go look.” He left the window and went into the back parts of the police station. When he came back he was holding a sandwich which he then passed through the window.
Then we resumed filling out a report for my missing wallet. I told him, “I had finished shopping and thought I put my wallet back into my purse. But when I was going to pull it out of my purse moments later it wasn’t there. I went back into the store I came out of and asked them if they had seen it. They told me ‘no’. I don’t know where else to look.”
The officer wrote it all down, the stores I had visited, where I lived and how he could get in touch with me if it should turn up. He then reminded me to get a new driver’s license and to cancel all my credit cards immediately.
When we finished the paperwork I asked the officer, “Will you tell me where I can find a shelter for this woman for the night.” He recommended the Good Shepherd shelter on Main and 95th Street.
I drove the woman over to Good Shepherd and we parted our ways.
I went home and unloaded my groceries, put them away, and then went to the phone to call the Department of Motor Vehicles to ask them what I would need to replace my driver’s license. Then I called each of my credit cards and told them about the missing wallet. They each said they would cancel my cards and issue new ones.
I made dinner for my family. As we sat at the table each of us told the others about our day.
My family consists of my wonderful husband, one son and one daughter, both teenagers and both know their technology. They have been keeping us up-to-date worldly-wise. My husband, David, is a security manager at a large corporation. He stands six feet two inches with a slim figure and quite dashing in a business suit. Our son, Joseph, is 17 and stands at five feet eleven inches and has entered university. He is skipping community college because he completed that while still in High School. Our daughter, Kathryn, is 15 and is in the tenth grade.
Any thoughts on where this story should go?
