It is the third year of the pandemic and it has been a rough year for Nolan. First he lost his parents to Covid, the deadly virus that has taken the world by storm. Then he was furloughed from his job in the service industry because the government has determined that his position was not “essential” in managing the pandemic. Lastly, the family grief and financial stress of this pandemic has put a strain on his marriage of twenty-seven years. More and more bills were piling up and not getting paid, and Nolan’s decision to numb his grief with pain medications did not help the situation. Tonight was the last straw, not only did Nolan’s wife, Danielle, change all the locks on the doors at home, but she obtained restraining order against him due to his destructive nature of punching holes in the wall when angry and she froze his accounts in order to save all that they had.

With only handful of change in his pocket and no where to go, Norman heads for the men’s shelter for the night, but there is no room; so it is a night on the streets for now. “Whoa, it is cold and windy tonight, that is for sure” as he pulls up his collar to his neck as an attempt to block out the cold.

He heads to the local pub to hang out for awhile at least it is warm for now. He just asks for some tonic water, if it looks like he has a “drink” he won’t be asked for another and he can stay awhile longer.

Last call! That is the sign, and Norman heads out the door. Again he is on the hunt for a warm place to sleep tonight. He gets two blocks down the street and suddenly someone shouts to him, “Hey, Sir! Wait!” as the shadow runs toward him. It is a young woman and she seems to be in distress. “Please, sir do you have any spare change, I need to use the pay phone to make an urgent call. It is a matter of life and death!”

Immediately, Nolan gives the stranger approximately three dollars in change, no questions asked. Early in his life, Nolan remembered learning, “Be kind to strangers, for you might be entertaining angels,” Hebrews 13:2. The woman thanked him and before he knew it she was gone in the darkness. Nolan found a place to sleep that night, near the pub he had visited.

Surprisingly, the next day Nolan was walking around town looking to see if any of the local merchants were hiring. “Excuse me, Mr. Roberts, may I have a word with you?” a young man approached him, “Were you at Smitty’s last night?” Puzzled by this inquiry, Nolan responded, “Yes, yes I was, how may I help you mister..?”. “Anderson, John, Anderson” as he hold out his hand to Nolan. “I overheard the story you told the bartender last night and I wanted to come over to talk to you, but you left before I able to do so.”

The young man explained that he founded a new hair care product line right before the pandemic hit. He was about to lay off the majority of his staff when he realized he could change one or two things in his processing plant that allowed the plant to produce hand sanitizer. With the pandemic continuing and an increased demand for hand sanitizer he is planning to open up another plant in the next month. After hearing about Nolan’s background, he thought Nolan would be a good fit for a sales manager position within the company. “Why don’t we go back to Smitty’s and discuss the details?” John advised, and Nolan agreed.

When they returned to the pub, the bartender greeted them and said, “Oh Mr. Roberts, you forgot your ID last night,” as he slides the card back to Nolan. “I also have a message from your wife, she asks if you to can give her a call, she would like to talk to you”. The bartender, explained when he discovered Nolan had left the ID card he looked up the information on the card and called his address thinking Nolan would be home. The bartender talked to his wife for a moment and she began to look at things differently, she then asked the bartender to give Nolan a message if he should return to the pub anytime soon.

After having a bite to eat and an extensive discussion with Mr. Anderson, Nolan decides it was time to give Danielle a call. She answers, and the tone in her voice had changed, instead of abrupt and confrontational it was now soft and humble. She apologized for everything that had happened between the two of them and asked Nolan to come home. She also asked Nolan if he would be willing to go to counseling with her. She explained that with Covid and everything that was happening she was afraid of losing him too like his parents and so many others. She didn’t want to lose what they had built for so many years. Nolan said, things would take time and not just expect change over night. Danielle understood this and agreed to his conditions. Nolan then shared the news of his new job, and that it was more pay than what he was making previously. “It would be a fresh start”, he said and she agreed.

*****

It’s one a.m., sixteen year old Jessica is exhausted she just spent the past six hours in Hell. A few weeks ago she met a guy online, “Brian” on Bookchat, a chat room for book enthusiasts. She had been “talking” to Brian for the past three weeks. He said he was 18 and a student over at Central. She was a junior at Emerson, she told him. They have been talking about the latest vampire series online and tonight was the first time they were going to meet in person.

Brian told her to just tell her folks she was going out with one of her girlfriends, tonight and once they were done she was just going to stay at the friends house that night, “no problem” he said. He said he would come pick her up at the school at 7pm and then they can go to a live poetry reading downtown.

“Sounds great,” she said, “See you then”. It is 7 p.m. and a 18 yr old year boy with black hair pulls up to the school in a black Ford mustang. “Jessica?” he says, “Brian” she responds. The two of them then drive downtown to “Wise Guys” a local comedy club that offered monthly poetry readings. Brain and Jessica walked in and sat down at a table left of the stage and listened to a poem called “Ode of Joy”. Things were going well until 30 minutes in the set, Jessica wasn’t feeling well, she was feeling hot and dizzy. “Uh can we step for a moment, this place is getting too stuffy.”

That is the last thing Jessica remembered, the next thing she realizes she is in a bedroom of a run down apartment building. Out the window she can see a neon sign that says “Smitty’s” just down the street. She glances down and sees her clothes are in disarray. The necklace with her name on it is missing. She glances over and sees a wallet on the dresser and checks the ID, it is definitely “Brian’s” photo but the name says Michael Dawson, age 35! She glances around the corner and sees, Brian, uh Michael, sleeping on the couch with empty beer cans around him on the floor.

With her senses coming back to her she realizes she is in a dangerous situation and must get out as soon as possible. She sees the door but it has triple deadbolt locks, “no time to look for a key now,” she thought. She looked out the window and saw a neighbor’s fire escape. “That is the only way”, she thought as she quick grabs a few bills from the dresser and climbs out on to the window ledge. The fire escape is just a few feet over.

Jessica makes a leap for it and lands on the fire escape with a “clang”, luckily at the same time a car backfires and muffles her sound. There is no response from the apartment over. She immediately travels down the fire escape and runs down the street toward “Smitty’s” looking for help.

The city clock strikes one, and Jessica is exhausted. She sees the pub has closed and she sees one of its patrons walking down the street. Hey, Sir! Wait!” she shouts running toward Nolan Roberts as he turns around.

Jessica explains to him,”Please, sir do you have some spare change, I need to use the pay phone to make an urgent call. It is a matter of life and death!”

Without any pause, Nolan hands her all the change he has, appropriately three dollars “thanks,” she said, and off she goes in the darkness to find a pay phone. She sees one on the next street over and immediately calls her parents to tell them where she is and to contact the police immediately, it is a matter of life and death.

The police are dispatched to her location and they pick Jessica up to take her to station for questioning. She is reunited with her parents a few hours later. As she walks out of the station she sees a homeless person asking for donations. She slowly walks up to him and gently places two bills and some change into the cup….