Darlene thought as John continued to scan through the weekend’s log. He smiled. “Looks like my 11:00 just got canceled.”
Darlene had been working there long enough to grasp that comment pretty quickly. “Mary found Mister Right Now over at the mission so she took off. No more issues in room 7.”
“I can’t say that I’m surprised. But it does break my heart. Mary has so much potential but she keeps chasing after these guys who are as broken as she is.”
Darlene started to respond but there was a knock on the door. For the next 20 minutes person after person stopped by to talk with her about some assorted personal crisis. Some were more serious than others, some just wanted a toothbrush or soap. Most just wanted a listening ear. This is where Darlene thrived. She was a great listener and often was able to share incredible insights. John closed the door to his office confident that Darlene could handle things while he got dressed.
“Father it looks like we have some messy lives to get involved with here today. Can you help me?”
“You know that I will. Brace yourself for the unexpected though.”
“Watch after Mary. She is medicating in this relationship. I know that she will come back. Show us the right way to welcome her when that time comes.”
John finished getting dressed and chugged down the protein shake that he had brought from home.
Mondays required reports of all sorts so John dove into the numbers from the past week. Since he kept up with it daily it was really only the weekend that he had to deal with at this point. Of course there could have been mistakes so John would double check all of that when he was done. The challenge of putting together these reports every week filled with numbers and stories of the ladies and their children who were or had been guests of the Crisis Shelter for the week usually made him smile. Remembering the events of the week now separate from any stress or emotion was almost like therapy for him as he reconnected with work. Today was like that anyway since there were no major issues to tackle. Some weeks, though, he regretted ever starting this process. It had started as a way to connect with his boss since he wasn’t sure what he might want to know about the shelter he created a report that covered everything that he could think of. Over the past four years it had been adjusted, added to, taken away from and was a chore in itself each week. A knock on the door stopped his thoughts.
“Come in!”
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