Page 3 of Mia Amata

Lauren said, “OK, I think that is good enough, we finished the errands we had originally set out to do today. We need you to stay hidden for just a little longer, we are going back to our house now. When we get there, I will pull into the garage, closing the garage door, and then we will be able to get you out of the van without anyone seeing. There are no windows in the garage, no chance of your being seen in there.”

“We do have to be careful when we go into the house though, the less people that know you are there, the better. We have a basement with a bedroom, small kitchen, and full bathroom, which is where we will have you go once we get into the house. It will be like a small apartment for you. Do you think you can stay down there, stay hidden?”

I affirmed that I could do that, after all, none of our neighbors ever saw me anyway. I could easily pretend not to exist, having lived that way for years.

“Perfect. Just remember, this is not permanent. We will eventually get you out of town, to a safe place where you can start over, but for the time being, we need to keep you hidden.”

We pulled into the garage; the garage door closed.

Eva turned toward me, “It’s OK, you can uncover now.” I pulled the blanket back, sat up, moved the sacks back on the seat, then I climbed out of the van.

Lauren walked up to me, saying, “I know you don’t know me, but I would like to give you a hug—unless it would make you feel uncomfortable, I will understand.” I told her it was OK. She gave me a gentle hug. She then said, “We are going to do whatever we can to make you safe, I promise.”

I just nodded, as more tears came. Lauren released me, and I turned, grabbing sacks from the van to help carry in their purchases.

We walked into the house; the garage door led into a hallway. Eva walked into the main part of the house, but Lauren walked in, stopping in the hallway. She turned as I shut the garage door and told me, “The doors right there are where the washer and dryer are. You should be able to come up and use them when needed without being seen from the outside although you might want to wait until one of us is home, in case someone comes to the door and can hear the noise.” I nodded to her as I took in the doors she was pointing at.

“This door,” Lauren stated as she pointed to a door a little further in, on the opposite side, “leads to the basement. Eva is checking the windows in the other rooms, but we should be good to head straight down there.”

At that point, Eva came back to the hallway, nodding at her mom. She opened the door that Lauren said led to the basement. We headed down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a small living area with an eat-in kitchen. It was comfortably furnished, and even though the furniture was not brand-new, it was very pleasing to the eye.

Lauren walked across to the door on the other side of the room and opened it. “This is your bedroom.” She nodded at the room. I walked into it, finding another very comfortable room with what was secondhand furniture but very lovely and peaceful looking.

“Over here, you have a full bathroom,” Eva said, pointing at another door. I was overwhelmed once again, unable to stop them, the tears flowed.

I looked at Lauren, “I don’t know what to say, how to express what I am feeling right now.”

Lauren smiled, “Well, it isn’t much, but I hope you will feel at home here for the time being.”

I shook my head, “It is lovely. So comfortable and peaceful. I am… extremely grateful for what you are doing for me.”

Lauren took my hands into hers, “You are welcome here with all our hearts. This will be your home until we can make other arrangements. We will discuss that later. Let’s go out to the kitchen, I’ll show you a few things.”

We walked out into the kitchen area, and she showed me a well-stocked pantry of canned goods and boxed goods, explaining, “We keep this kitchen well-stocked as we never know when someone will be using it. We keep an eye on expiration dates and use things upstairs as needed.”

She opened the refrigerator, which to my surprise was somewhat stocked also. “These are cold items that have longer expiration dates on them, we come down and get them when we use ours up, replacing them as we go.”

I observed the items in the refrigerator, “Milk and eggs?”

Eva looked at her mom and laughed. “Well,” she said, “those are new. I told Mom a couple of days ago. I felt we needed to buy extra of those types of items, putting them down here. I guess you could say I had a feeling.”

Lauren laughed, “The last time she had a feeling like that was when we helped the last person. So I listened, and we stocked up. Use what you want/need, let us know if there is something else you want or need, and we will pick it up for you.”

She walked over to the table and sat down. She motioned for me to join her while Eva took another seat. She looked intently at me, saying “I think we should discuss a couple of things now, and then we will let you get settled in and rest. First off, what name did you decide on, so I know what to call you?”

“Mattie,” I said.

“OK, Mattie it is. So you know our names. We would like to keep things on a first-name basis if that is OK with you?”

I nodded, I understood. The less I know the better off they will be if I am found.

“Thank you for understanding. Not being rude, we would prefer you to not wander around upstairs where you can see personal items, not only because the less you know about our private lives, but when you go upstairs you run the risk of being seen. Doing laundry is safe, you can’t be seen there from the windows.”

Again, I nodded, “I am good with that. It really does feel safe down here.”

It was Lauren’s turn to nod. Eva said, “There is a variety of clothing in the bedroom closet, a variety of sizes that we have collected here and there. Some are brand-new, picked up on sale. Others are nice items we picked up at garage sales or at thrift stores. I think one of the first things you should do is go change clothes, bringing us what you have on, so we can dispose of them, in case he remembers what you were wearing today when you left home.”

I said, “He will know exactly what I was wearing, as he picks my clothes out every day.” I got up and walked toward the bedroom, but not before I saw the glance exchanged between Eva and her mom.

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