Page 4 of Home With You

When I get back to the alley next to the coffee shop, Gladys is sitting on her lawn chair, sipping what I'm guessing is a cup of coffee. Zoe, one of the managers at the coffee shop, always gives Gladys free coffee. She only works at this location on Tuesdays, which makes Tuesday Gladys' favorite day of the week.

"Did Zoe bring you coffee?" I ask, sitting on the plastic crate next to Gladys. We only have one chair and I always let Gladys have it because she's old and should have the better chair.

"Pumpkin spice!" Gladys says, her tired brown eyes lighting up. "It's new for fall."

"Do you like it?"

"My goodness, it's heavenly." She takes a big sniff of it through the hole in the lid. Her wrinkled hands are wrapped tightly around the paper cup, making sure she doesn't drop it. Last summer, she dropped her coffee and cried for ten minutes straight. It was a day Zoe wasn't working so Gladys used the change she'd saved up to splurge on a cup of coffee. And then it slipped from her hands and spilled all over the ground.

"Ready for lunch?" I take my backpack off and set it between my legs.

"What are we having today?" she asks, beaming like she always does when I show up with food. It's less about the food and more about me. She gets lonely when I'm not here. Next to coffee, I'm her favorite thing.

I pull the sub sandwich out. "It's only a six-inch but it's loaded up with meat and cheese." Keeping it in the wrapper, I gently tear the sub in half and set Gladys' half on the cardboard box between us. It's our dining table until it rains and ruins the cardboard, but we always find a replacement.

"Looks delicious!" she says as I unwrap mine.

"I have chips too, but not very many." I shake the chips out on the sandwich wrapper. There's only five but it's better than nothing.

"You can have them, dear," she says, sipping her coffee. "I already have my treat." She closes her eyes and smiles.

"I got us another treat," I say, my hand on the candy bar that's still in my backpack.

Her eyes open wide. "Butterscotch?"

Gladys loves hard candy, especially the butterscotch ones. Last July, there was a parade nearby and people on floats tossed candy into the crowd. Apparently nobody likes the butterscotch ones because they were left behind. Knowing how much Gladys loves those butterscotch candies, I found a plastic bag and gathered up every one I could find. I searched every street on the parade route, then I searched the park in case some kids went there to sort through their candy and tossed the butterscotch ones aside. Sure enough, I found more butterscotch candies littered across the lawn and playground area.

I give Gladys one butterscotch a day and she always acts surprised and excited, like it's the best gift she ever got. I counted them out and have enough candies left until the next parade, although I’m hoping I’m not still here by then.

"This treat is even better than butterscotch," I tell her.

She winks at me. "Nothing's better than butterscotch."

I smile. "Okay, but it's still a treat." I pull out the oversized candy bar and set it between us.

"Goodness, it hasn't even been opened," she says, staring down at it.

"I know. Brand new." I turn to face her. "And guess who gave it to me?"

Her brows draw together. "Who?"

"Levi. He showed up on my street, claiming he was going to set up shop there."

"Levi's moving?"

"No. He just said it to get a reaction out of me. There's no way he's giving up his spot. He makes too much money there."

"Is that how he paid for that? Or did he..." She stops, not wanting to mention what Levi does when he disappears at night.

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. It's free and I was really craving chocolate." I pick it up and peel off the end of the wrapper. The chocolate melts on my tongue as I gently bite into the caramel. It's so good. I let that one bite linger in my mouth, trying to eat it as slowly as possible. Hardly anyone throws out chocolate so it could be awhile before I get to experience this again.

I hear Gladys' soft laugh. "You're like me and my coffee."

"You can have the coffee. I'll take chocolate any day over coffee." Opening my eyes, I see her smiling at me. "Have some." I hold the candy bar out to her.

"You go ahead, dear. It's yours."

"I don't need this whole thing. It's huge."

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