In my dream , I could just think of something or someone and I was transported back to that time. I remembered when I was seventeen, Pop had a friend that worked in a kitchen of a major hotel located on Fourth street. He got me a job there, it was much better than delivering newspapers especially in winter. I would go there after school and on Saturdays and help the baker, mainly it was washing all the pots and pans that they used but there was a chance to learn a trade, Mrs LaMonza taught me how to make bread, it was something that I was interested in and I thought might make a good career since it looked like college was not in my future.
The Hotel had been having some problems in management with supervisors and managers coming and going, it was to every one's relief that they brought this manager in from Miami Florida, He was known as a problem solver, he would go to hotels that were having a lot of issues and in no time he would turn it around. He seemed like a nice guy, introducing himself to the staff, seeing what we needed and taking any and all suggestions.
This manager John Baxter did not come alone, he brought his wife and young son who was around six years old and a baby girl who was almost one years old. They took residence in the hotel on the sixth floor, I imagined that the weather we were having might come as a culture shock to them, as I was told in Miami it was about eighty degrees while we were having below freezing temperatures and a chance of snow everyday for the next three days or so.Mr Baxter was born and raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana, so he spoke with a Southern accent , some things he said I could not understand but I loved to listen to him talk.
One day while I was waiting for the bus outside of the hotel, he came out and spoke to me, He was just making small talk, he said coming up from Florida he did not appreciate this cold weather, but his wife really enjoyed seeing some of the sights since the hotel was located in a historic district, she had taken the children to see the Live Nativity scene located in a church courtyard about five blocks from the hotel, she really seemed to be making the adjustment with a positive attitude, he said.
He then went on telling me how this job can keep you busy, it was a major chore to make sure that the paying guest were being served and were satisfied. He looked up the street and saw a homeless man laying on a steam grate that was located on the pavement just outside of the main entrance of the hotel . He walked closer to the homeless man, who was wearing a tattered woolen coat with holes in his shoes. Mr Baxter went up to the homeless guy and tore the cardboard from his hands that he was going to cover himself with. Get out of here ! he yelled, He said it again, Out! before I call the police. The man in the shabby woolen coat got up quickly and ran away. Mr Baxter came walking towards me saying that he did not want a vagrant disturbing my guests,if he comes back I will have him bodily removed, I remember that homeless man well and it was not the first time I had seen him, he would wear this long shabby woolen overcoat that had seen better days.I kind of felt sorry for that guy because I believe he could not help himself.
Everything was going smooth as can be until the 24Th of December,Christmas Eve, I recall it now so vividly, I was done at six pm and was really looking forward
to dinner with my favorite people, I had brought each one a little gift, and wrapped them , I was going to sneak them in and put them under their tree. It felt good to do something for them , even if it was just a little gift, they had done so much for me , I often wondered where would I be without them, what would I have become ?
I was waiting for the bus when Mr Baxter came out of the hotel in a frantic state, he called out loudly, almost screaming the name of his son, I came running over to him asking what is wrong ? He said that his son was missing, the cops came pulling up just then, the sirens piercing through the evening sky, he tells the police that they could not find their son , they had searched everywhere. The police ask him if they want them to search the hotel rooms, but that will take a lot of time, Mr Baxter ran into the hotel and pulled the fire alarm , the guest came streaming out into the bitter cold in various stages of undress. Mr Baxter gathered up the staff and asked them to check every room in the hotel. I looked at his wife who came down with a baby in her arms and a look of hopelessness, I would never want to experience what they must be going through. I came over to Mr Baxter and asked if I could help, he asked if I knew the streets around here, I told him I knew them like the back of my hand.
He got a car and we drove around looking everywhere, we also walked down every alley way, we called out his name until we were hoarse . The hour was getting late, there was a phone booth on a corner where Mr Baxter called the hotel, they had not found him. It was the coldest night of the year with a biting unforgiving wind that pushed you back a step for every two steps you took forward. Mr Baxter was in bad shape, his eyes were unfocused and he was shaking uncontrollably with tears streaming down his face.I remembered a Church down the street, I said to him Mr Baxter , lets go pray. We came to the Church where they had a Nativity scene for Christmas, earlier in the day they had some live animals there but it was so bitter cold out that they brought them in, we both knelt at the fence before the manger. Mr Baxter prayed, Dear Lord, have mercy on my son. He then fell to the ground and sobbed profusely.
It was now early morning with maybe an hour to go before sunrise, and I was tired and Mr Baxter was heart broken and possibly delirious . I then heard a noise .As I approached the creche, I noticed a dark figure on the ground, in the dim light I could barely make it out to be a human being, he was wearing tattered clothes with holes in the bottom of his shoes, he was sleeping in a fetal position shivering in the unmerciful cold.
It was the street guy that Mr Baxter had thrown off the hotel property!,Mr Baxter ! I cried out, with that the homeless man woke up startled, and seeing me and Mr Baxter , he just ran off.
Just then we heard a small voice crying out "daddy!" There in the cradle that had held a plastic baby Jesus was Mr Baxter's son, covered with a tattered , ragged , woolen overcoat.
He jumped into his father's arms as he hugged him close, we went to the car looking over our shoulders for the man in the tattered clothes, but we never did see him again.
Latter at the hospital, his son was checked out, and there were no problems, Bobby told us that he had left the hotel to see the animals.
Much earlier in the day , Mrs Baxter had taken him to this church , he had snuck out of his room and he made his way to the church but he had become lost, he was tired and cold, so he crept into the cradle with the "baby Jesus", he said he started crying because he was so cold,then he said , this man came up, took off the coat he was wearing and covered him with it.
Mr Baxter had alerted every employee that if they found this person they would be rewarded and that they should bring this person to the hotel where he would be treated as a honored guest.
