Out of the Cold

Out of the Cold Read Free Page A

Book: Out of the Cold Read Free
Author: Norah McClintock
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disappearance,” Morgan said, as if I were doing something wrong.
    Billy gave me a sympathetic look. “Still haven’t heard from him, huh?”
    I shook my head.
    â€œShe needs to get her mind off him,” Morgan said.
    â€œI don’t
want
to get my mind off him,” I said. “I want to know where he is and why he left.”
    â€œWhat I mean is, you need to get your mind off thinking about him
all the time
,” Morgan said. “It’ll drive you crazy. You need to get busy with something.”
    â€œWhy don’t you come to the homeless shelter with Morgan and me?” Billy said. “They can always use extra help.”
    Billy volunteered at a place for the homeless. He also volunteered at an animal rights organization and at the Humane Society, and was a founder of and the most active member in the Downtown Avian Rescue Club, which rescued injured migratory birds. Needless to say, he’s a vegan.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said. I admire Billy, but the way I was feeling, I thought I’d probably just depress the destitute.
    â€œSeriously, Robyn, you should try it,” Billy said. “The best way I know to feel good about yourself is to help someone else. Isn’t that right, Morgan?”
    Morgan nodded. “Although, to be honest,” she said, “I feel just fine about myself.”
    I was sure that was true. Morgan was not given to self-doubt, self-pity, self-loathing or, especially, self-criticism. The person who liked Morgan best was Morgan herself. Billy was her number-two admirer.
    â€œWe’re going down there tomorrow, right, Morgan?” Billy said. “And I know they’re looking for more volunteers. The colder it gets, the more people use the shelter.” It was really cold already, and the nights getting longer. It was dark by five in the afternoon. “They need as many people as they can get to make soup and sandwiches, set out coffee, clean up after meals, sort and hand out donations of warm clothing and sleeping bags—stuff like that. It’ll make you feel better. And you’ll meet a lot of interesting people. What do you say?”
    I wanted to say no. I didn’t feel like doing anything. But Billy made it sound as if I’d be welcomed with open arms, so instead I agreed.
    Billy beamed at me. “It’s a great place to volunteer, Robyn. You won’t regret it.”
    As it turned out, he was wrong. It wasn’t long before I was sorry I had ever said yes.

CHAPTER TWO
    T
    he way we had arranged it: I would meet Morgan and Billy at the shelter, Billy would introduce me to the director, and the director would assign me something to do.
    The change in plans: While I was waiting for the bus, Morgan called me on my cell phone and said she couldn’t make it after all because she had woken up with a really bad sore throat. She said they didn’t like people to volunteer at the shelter if they were even remotely sick—a lot of the homeless people who used the place weren’t in the best of health. Some of them had immune systems that were seriously unreliable. But, she said, Billy was on his way, he was excited that I was going to join him, and he was dying to show me around.
    The way it actually happened: I got off the bus where Billy had told me to. I could have waited for a second bus, but it wasn’t due for another ten minutes. It wouldn’t take that long to walk to the homeless shelter, and walking would help me to stay warm. At first I was moving past downtown stores, office buildings, and restaurants. Even there I kept running into people who were down and out. I’d only gone half a block before a grubby young man sitting in the doorway of a vacant store asked me for money. He was halfwrapped in a weathered sleeping bag and he kept his eyes on the ground when I dropped some quarters into a plastic cup on the sidewalk in front of him. One block onward, I passed a man

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