The alarm sounded its
usual six in the morning wake up call. Yet on this Monday morning, It seemed
particularly shrilling to Sarah’s ears. “Mondays”, she thought to herself. “I
hate Mondays.” The routine was always the same. Get herself ready, wake up
Josh, get him ready and then out the door to daycare and then to work. Sarah hated
her dead-end, low paying job. But when raising a kid alone and with little
education, it was the best she could do for now.
Having become
extremely efficient from several years of experience, she had Josh awake, dressed and
fed in forty five minutes flat. Then she had a few more minutes to fix up
herself and out the door to catch the seven fifteen bus. They usually arrived
at the daycare around seven thirty. After a few greetings and some small talk,
Sarah was kissing Josh goodbye and then was off to work. It was a long walk
and she was thankful that spring had finally arrived along with some warmer
weather. The city bus went right by her place of employment but did so five minutes
too late. Sarah knew she could never be late. Never! So like every other day,
she began that long walk to work.
Past the old and
decaying buildings that were once a vibrant down town core, Sarah’s daily trek
took her through parts of the city that most would not even think of walking
through. The streets were filled with abandoned cars, garbage, furniture, and
of course, the homeless. Here, the criminal element did their deeds as the dues
were paid and favours were exchanged. The police never came down here nor did
any of those who distributed food and clothing to the homeless. The name of
this place was Avenue End because it was the end of the line for many. But it
was the quickest way to work and ensured that she was never late. And she could
never be late. “Besides”, she always thought to herself, "Nobody messes with the
Crazy Mama Bitch” anymore. Sarah always chuckled to herself when recalling the
day she earned that nickname. But at the time, she was absolutely frightened
for herself and her son.
Sarah was a
single mother. Pregnant at nineteen, she opted to keep her baby in spite of the
odds and as well as having no help from the father. She didn’t even know where
the father was. And that suited her just fine. It was a hard life but Sarah
endured it and always clung to the hope that somehow, her and that beautiful
little boy would make it. She had dreamt of being an editor of a fashion or
culture magazine one day. Those dreams seemed lost lately but she never
regretted her decision to keep her baby. She had explored the idea of going to
college full-time or even taking night courses but there was just not enough
money. Even with special grants and the help of social services, she would
never be able to make ends meet. “But someday”. She always told herself.
“Someday, I will give my son a better life.” The previous year, the daycare
workers went out on strike for just over a week. Sarah had no choice but to
bring Josh to work and enrol him in the daycare across the road. It was more
expense than the government run daycare she had and it also meant that she had
to bring Josh with her when she walked through the old part of town. For over a
year she made that same trek no matter the seasons and endured the endless
taunts, propositions and rude gestures from the drug dealers and the punks who
had nothing better to do but hang out and harass people. And there was that one
very frightening moment which led to her being nicknamed the “Crazy Mama Bitch”.
While pushing
three year old Josh in his stroller on the way to work, Sarah encountered a
group of ruffians who seemed intent on pestering her. They surrounded her and
her son and began with the taunts and sexual gestures. At first, Sarah never
said anything as she tried to push past them and get out of this part of the
city. The group of young men refused to let her pass. After a few minutes the
loudest and crudest of the bunch tried to grab Sarah. She kept avoiding him and
asking them all to leave her alone. But then he did the unthinkable. He leaned
towards toward Josh and put his hand out as if was about to touch Sarah’s son. There
were no thoughts of a plan. She had no comprehension of consequences. In fact,
Sarah did not think at all. She simply reacted to protect her son. Sarah was
all over this punk in an instant slapping and punching him wildly and with
everything she had. And she was screaming at him the entire time. Afterwards, Sarah
could never recall what she said or how many times she hit him but she did remember
him screaming at her, “Calm down you Crazy Mama Bitch!” The entire neighbourhood
was watching as this punk tried to save face after Sarah’s pummelling. As she
began to calm down the young man seemed to get braver as he moved towards her
again. Sarah responded with another lunge at him swinger her fists all the
while. He backed away again, rather quickly. No one else in the group seemed to
have any desire to take on Sarah. As the group began to move away from Sarah
some of the onlookers were taunting the group and especially the punk who got
Sarah so agitated. As he kept walking away he was shooting the finger to
everyone while continuing to call Sarah a Crazy Mama Bitch. That nickname stuck
and no one harassed Sarah after that.
One morning while
walking the same streets to work, Sarah noticed these same punks pestering an
elderly homeless lady whom she had seen on the street many times. When they
pushed her to the ground, Sarah ran towards them yelling, “Hey! Leave her alone
you bunch of Punks!” A few others came running as well. The group of males took
off running and never stopped until they were out sight of the would be
rescuers of the helpless old lady. Sarah was first to arrive and began to help
the elderly lady to her feet. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked. “I’m okay”
replied the lady getting up slowly. “Thank you for stopping to help me.” “I’m
just glad you are ok” said Sarah up righting the elderly Lady’s shopping cart. “Where
is your son? I haven’t seen him with you in such a long time”, the old lady
stated. “I like children. I have a few of my own you know but they are all
grown up know.” “He is at daycare” Sarah replied. “I drop him off there before
I go to work.” Instantly she was reminded about work and how she couldn’t be
late. “Well….If you are okay then I better get to work before I’m late.” The
elderly lady was reaching into shopping cart looking for something. “Just a
minute my dear, I have something for you for helping an old lady in distress.” Sarah,
now really worried about being late for work, tried to protest any gifts but
the old lady was insistent. Eventually she pulled out an old, multi coloured
winter coat. It looked hideous and was full of holes. She handed it to Sarah as
proud as a Peacock. Again Sarah tried to protest but the old Lady would not
take no for an answer. She finally accepted the gift and let it be known that
she really had to get going or be late for work. The old lady leaned in close
to Sarah and said, “I know it doesn’t look like much, but on a cold winter day
when your hands get too cold, the pockets in this coat are especially warm.”
The old lady smiled coyly and then told Sarah, “And with warm hands, you can do
anything!” Sarah thanked the old lady once more and then was off to work. She
was practically running so as not to be late.
Sarah detested
this ugly looking coat. And it seemed awfully heavy. She contemplated throwing
it in the trash but decided against it. She wondered if the old lady might need
it back when the cold weather returned. Once home, Sarah wrapped up the coat
in plastic, threw it in a box in the closet and soon forgot about it. The days
passed on in routine and Sarah and Josh made due the best they could as they
always did. Money was sparse but love was in abundance. And it sustained them
even on the days when Sarah really wished she could provide more for her son. “He
deserves better” she would tell herself. The summer passed by quickly as did
autumn. The northern winds had begun to blow and soon winter was in full force.
As she did every day, Sarah dropped off Josh at daycare and headed off to work.
She had no idea that her life was about to become drastically different.
On her way to
work she noticed that the old homeless lady was nowhere to be seen. In fact,
Sarah had not seen her for quite some time. She decided to stop and ask a few
of the girls standing on the street corner if they had seen the old lady lately.
Sarah was devastated when hearing the news! The old lady had died the previous
week. As Sarah continued her trek to work she could not stop thinking about the
old lady. She was such a nice lady and the news of her death upset Sarah very much.
Throughout the day she could not stop thinking about it. Finally, the work day
was over and it was time to get on the bus and go pick up Josh from daycare. As
Sarah gathered her things, she realized her winter coat was gone. She searched
everywhere and asked everyone but the coat was nowhere to be found. Sarah came
to the conclusion that someone must have stolen it. She had no choice but to
brave the cold until she and Josh were home.
After Josh was
put to bed for the night, Sarah began to wonder what she was going to do for a
winter coat. She had no spare and no money for another coat. She suddenly
remembered the old ripped coat that the old lady had given her. She detested
the thought of going anywhere in that hideous old thing but Sarah knew she didn’t
have a choice. She went to the closet and took the coat out of the box. It was
the ugliest thing she had ever seen. And it still felt so heavy. Sarah hung it
up for the morning and readied herself for bed. While lying there she began to
sob hysterically. She just couldn’t deal with things anymore.
The alarm rang
and Sarah rose to the normal routine. She instantly thought of that hideous
coat and was already in a bad mood. She was embarrassed to be seen in the coat
when dropping Josh to daycare. She was in an out hardly talking to anyone.
Although she hated the coat, she was at least happy to have something warm as
the temperature had dipped below minus ten degrees. Even with her gloves on her
hands were still cold. Sarah slipped both hands into the coat pockets only to
find that the lining inside was ripped. Her hands went all the way to the
bottom. Both her hands felt something at the bottom of the coat and she was now
curious as to what these objects could be. Sarah pulled her hands out of the coat
pockets, took off her gloves and reached back into the pockets to pull out
whatever was down there. What she pulled out stopped her in her tracks! She
pulled her other hand out of the pocket and just stared at what she now held in
both of her hands. Reaching once more into the pockets she felt even more.
Sarah quickly stuffed everything back into the pockets, turned around and ran
as fast as she could back home. Once there she emptied everything out of the
coat wherever she found the liner ripped. She fell to the floor and began to
weep! What Sarah had found at the bottom of the coat that made it so heavy was
money. Lots of money! She began counting it. When she was done she had counted
fifty three thousand dollars!
Sarah sat at the table excited and yet nervous. She had never done this before and was not sure what to expect. She did not really know if anyone would even show up. But the lineup out the door and down the street had answered her question with absolute clarity. As she was introduced, there was a thunderous applause and then that lineup of people started to move towards her eagerly. It had been four years since Sarah found the money in that ugly coat given to her by a homeless lady. Along with government grants and loans, she was able to quit her job and go to college. Sarah graduated and took a position as Junior Editor at a small but prestigious culture magazine. Today, Sarah was at a book store for a book signing for her first novel that had just made the New York Time’s Best Seller List. The first person in line for an autograph was a very young lady who was there with her little son. Sarah signed her name and then closed the book. But before she returned the book to the young lady, she took a moment to look at the cover. She smiled and thought of that kind old lady who had changed the lives of both she and her son. Handing back the book to the young lady, Sarah smiled and thanked her for the support. She spent the rest of the afternoon signing over two hundred copies of her best selling book that she had appropriately titled, “The Coat That Warmed Three Hearts”, by Sarah Chapman.
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