Never Judge a Book By Its Cover
Chapter 22
We were done packing within about 20 minutes. We would have been done quicker if it weren't for the fact that we kept taking make-out breaks. When we were done, I decided to drive Brian downtown so he could see Lake Michigan. He told me about the 3 times he had been to Chicago. The first time was when he was about 6 to visit his great grandfather in the hospital and the second and third times were with the Backstreet Boys. None of those times he got to go out and actually see Chicago.
"Damn! No wonder they call it the windy city!" he said as we sat down on a bench near the edge the lake. I sat closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. He smiled and wrapped his arms around me. He must have seen the back to his necklace around my neck, because he pulled his arms from around me and took it out from under my shirt.
"I never took it off," I said as he looked down at his necklace in his hand.
"Not even once?"
"Nope. It gave me this weird strength. When you broke up with me, I tried to take it off, but I couldn't. I didn't want to lose you."
"I'm so sorry that I ever did that to you. I think that's my biggest mistake to date."
"It's really okay, Brian. It gave us each a chance to realize that we needed each other." He smiled and wrapped his arms back around me.
"I love you," he whispered almost as softly as the wind.
"I love you, too."
"That is so damn sweet, I think I might throw-up," came a voice out of nowhere. Brian and I looked around but saw no one. "Down here." We looked down under the bench and there was this homeless lady laying there. She pulled herself up and sat on the edge of the bench about 2 feet from Brian. Brian had obviously never been confronted with a homeless person like that because he seemed a little nervous. I was used to it, though. "Don't mind me...just go about your business," said the woman looking out over the lake. She was an older woman, probably about 50 or so, but she didn't look that old and she sure didn't look like a stereotypical homeless person. She looked like a very nice old woman.
"Ma'am? If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" I asked leaning over Brian. She looked over at me a little shocked. I'm not sure if anyone had ever asked her her name before.
"Well, of course I don't mind, darlin'. My name is Nanna, or at least that's what everyone calls me," she said in a slightly southern accent.
"Hi Nanna, I'm Kaitlyn and this is Brian," I said extending my hand to her.
"Glad to know ya," she said smiling. Brian seemed a little timid to shake her hand. He just sort of looked at it for a second. "It's alright son, I ain't gonna bite." Brian smiled and shook her hand.
"Ma'am, if you don't mind my curiosity, how did you become homeless?" asked Brian.
"Of course I don't mind you asking. Well, son, I was stuck in an abusive marriage and I thought it was my only way out."
"How long have you been out here?" I asked.
"About 15 years."
"Wow...do you ever regret leaving?"
"I did at first, but this is just my life now. People around here can be real mean to an old homeless lady like me, but sometimes nice kids like you come along and actually take time to talk to me. I really enjoy my life and how it is."
"But aren't you scared? I mean living on the streets?" asked Brian.
"No. Not really. No one hardly takes the time to look at ya when yer out here let alone mess with ya. I used to be terrified, but now that everyone knows me, it's not a big deal. Do ya'll live around here?"
"I do...well, I did, until today...I'm moving to Florida with him."
"Ya'll have been together a long time, huh? That's the impression that I got from how you two were talkin' earlier."
"Not really. Actually, in total we've only been together for about a week," said Brian smiling.
"Well, I'll be, you kids seem as if you've been together since you were 4 years old. You sure it's only been about a week?"
"Well, we've been together in person for about a week total, but we'd been talking on the phone for about 3 months."
"Wow. Ya know, love like that ain't somethin' ya find everyday. I wish ya both the best of luck," she said standing up as if she was getting ready to leave.
"Well, thank you Nanna. Can I ask you one last question?" I said holding onto Brian's hand and standing up.
"Sure dear, go right ahead."
"Can I come and see you again before I leave?"
"Of course you can, dear. I should be around here somewhere."
"It was wonderful to meet you, Nanna. We'll see you later," said Brian hugging her.
"Alright sweetie. You two run along now."
"Yes ma'am." Brian took my hand and we watched as Nanna walked away with her hands shoved in her pockets and a smile on her face. Brian and I turned the other direction and began walking slowly in the other direction.
"That lady was really cool," said Brian putting his arm around me.
"She sure was. See, you never know what you might find when you don't judge a book by it's cover. I'll bet that lady has a lot of great stories to tell."
"I wanna help her. Ya know, give her some money or something. What do you think?"
"Brian, listen to me, the last thing these people want are your sympathy. All they want is someone to listen to them. Someone to care for them."
"How do you know so much about these people?"
"Well...I was one of them for about a year or so...after the second time I lost my baby and my dad came back. I couldn't take it anymore, so I just left. I used to be just like Nanna except I wasn't as strong as she is...I had to go back."
"Whoa...I had no idea."
"I know, and neither does anyone else and I wanna keep it that way. I was messed up for a long time, Brian. There's still a lot about me that you don't know."
"I want to know."
"Well...not now, but I'll tell you someday, I promise." Brian and I continued our walk around downtown until about 5:30 when we decided to head back to my apartment and make sure everything was ready since we were leaving that night at 7:30. We started walking back toward the bench where we had met Nanna earlier.
"I wonder where she is..." said Brian looking around.
"There she is! Come on!" I said grabbing Brian's hand and running with him over to Nanna who was asleep on the ground under a tree. I knelt down beside her and shook her lightly. "Nanna?" I whispered. "Nanna?" She didn't move. "NANNA?" I screamed shaking her harder. "Oh my God," I said looking over my shoulder at Brian as my eyes started to water.
"What baby?"
"Brian, I think she's...she's dead." Brian's mouth dropped. I turned back towards Nanna and shook her harder screaming her name. People started staring, but I didn't care. "Someone call and ambulance NOW!" I yelled crying. The ambulance got there shortly after and took Nanna. She was pronounced dead upon arrival.
"Are either of you Kaitlyn or Brian?" a guy in a cop uniform asked walking towards us with an envelop in his hand.
"Yeah, that's us," I said untangling myself from Brian's arms.
"Then this is for you," he said handing me the envelop.
"Thanks," I said opening it. I pulled out a letter and read it out loud so that Brian could hear it.
"Brian and Kaitlyn-
Thank you for taking time out to talk to an old homeless woman like me. I haven't had friends since I left my husband and you made me feel like I had something to live for. Now I can die happy. Best wishes to both of you. I have a feeling that you will be together forever. I will always be with you. Congratulations on the baby.
Love,
Nanna"
I felt a single tear run down my face as I placed the letter back into its envelop.
"Wait, what was the last sentence?" asked Brian.
"Love Nanna."
"No, before that."
"Um..." I said pulling the paper back out. I read it over, "Congratulations on the...baby? What baby?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe she was crazy..."
"Maybe...anyway, we'd better go," said Brian taking my hand.
"Yeah." I couldn't get those 4 words out my head "Congratulations on the baby." What was she talking about? I wasn't pregnant and hopefully neither was Brian! We got into my car and drove back to my apartment silently. When we got back, it was about 6:15 and all the lights were off. I unlocked the door and walked inside. I flipped the switch on and about 15 of my closest friends jumped out at us.
"Hey girl!" said Jill switching the music on, then walking over to us.
"Hey Jill!"
"We just all had to come over and say goodbye and to meet this hot guy that you told us about. You must be the hot guy here to whisk our Kaitlyn away, huh?" said Jill looking at Brian.
"That'd be me! Hi, I'm Brian," he said shaking her hand.
"I'm Jill." She went around the room and introduced everyone. 45 minutes later, the party started winding down.
"Hey guys, me and Brian need to start heading to the airport," I said to my 5 remaining friends.
"Alright, I'll drive ya," said Lillian standing up and grabbing her keys. Brian and I went into my room and grabbed my suitcase. All the boxes had been picked up earlier while we were out and were already halfway to Florida. We headed to the airport and were soon on our way to Florida.
-=Chapter Twenty Three=-
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