"Get out of here!" the man yelled.
His face was twisted from yelling and screaming. He was holding a wooden bat and waving it around. Lily stood at the counter and managed to duck his first couple of swings. She was staring at the loose dollars and coins she had spread out on the counter.
"I have enough money!" she yelled back.
The man waved his bat again, catching her on the side of her face. Lily screamed in pain and grabbed her face, then stumbled back into a display of potato chips. The display fell over and crashed to the ground. Lily screamed again and lunged toward the counter. The man held up the bat again. "You want more?!" he yelled.
Lily screamed and reached for the bat. The man swung and hit her on her shoulder. She screamed out in pain.
"Call the police!" the man yelled to a woman who'd just entered the small liquor store.
Lily could feel blood running down her cheek. She cried out in pain as she tried to grab the money she had on the counter. She missed the counter and fell to the floor. The woman rushed over to her, holding her cell phone. She looked at Lily's face.
"What are you doing?!" she yelled at the man.
"She's a dirty thief and liar. I don't want her in my store. She has a bottle underneath her coat!" the man yelled.
The woman shot him a cold look and turned her attention back to Lily. "You're bleeding. We need to get you some help." As the man got on the phone with the police, the woman helped Lily to her feet. "Here. Sit down," she said. She helped Lily to a floor display that substituted as a chair, then turned her attention toward the store clerk. "Get me some fuckin' paper towels before she bleeds all over your floor, asshole!!" the woman yelled.
Lily was dazed. She didn't know where she was. She looked at her hands and saw they were covered in blood. She looked up at the woman, whose face began to distort before Lily's eyes. She tried to fix her vision by blinking her eyes, but the woman's face remained distorted. Lily closed her eyes and began to rock back and forth.
"I'm a good girl," she said. The woman held a paper towel to her face. "I'm a good girl," Lily repeated. The woman removed the blood-soaked paper towel, unrolled a new one, and placed it on Lily's face.
"You need your ass kicked!" she yelled at the man. "You don't go around hitting people with a bat, especially women. What the fuck is your problem?"
The woman waited with Lily until the police arrived. After she told them what she'd seen, the police questioned the liquor store owner. Lily watched as the man told his story. The policeman then nodded his head and walked over to Lily.
"Do you need medical attention?" he asked her.
Lily looked at him. "I don't need anything," she said. Her head hurt, and she felt dizzy. She tried to stand up but fell back down. The woman, who was standing next to Lily, stepped in.
"She needs a doctor! Can't you see she's bleeding? This man bashed her in the face with a bat! My God, am I the only one who sees this shit?"
The policeman called for an ambulance on his radio and walked back to the liquor store owner.
Lily began to sway back and forth. She felt herself slipping, then all was black.
Lily tried to open her eyes but couldn't. She had a terrible pain in her face and shoulder. She groaned a little. She tried to raise her hand, but someone gently pushed it away.
"Lily? Lily, it's Anna. Do you know who I am?"
Lily tried to open her eyes again and groaned.
"Where am I?" she said, not opening her eyes. "My head hurts."
"You're at the county hospital. You've been injured," Anna said.
Lily tried to open her eyes. She managed to open her right eye slowly. Everything was blurry and distorted. She managed to focus, if only for a moment, on Anna.
"What are you doing here? Lily asked. Her voice was raspy, her breathing labored.
"They found my card in your pocket. They didn't have anyone to call, so they called me," Anna softly replied.
Lily reached her hand up to her face and felt a bandage on her left cheek. She tried to pull it off, but the tape made it difficult. She turned her head. Now able to open both eyes, she focused on Anna.
"Anna?" she asked.
Anna held her hand. "Yes. Lily, you're in the hospital. You were injured at the store. Do you remember anything?"
Lily turned her head and looked around the room. Her vision would focus, then be distorted again. She blinked her eyes several times, trying focus. She tried to sit up, but a quick, sharp pain in her shoulder stopped her. She slowly lay back down.
"I was at the liquor store," Lily said. "The man. He had a bat." Anna said, "The doctor is releasing you, Lily." "Will you come with me, to the shelter?"
Lily looked at her. She trusted Anna. She gave her food and clothes. She was kind and would let her sing in the kitchen. So, she nodded her head yes.
"Okay, let me help you up. I brought you some clean clothes, shoes, socks, and underwear," Anna said.
"Okay," said Lily.
Lily sat in the wheelchair while Anna spoke to the doctors. She didn't like hospitals. She thought they smelled bad.
Anna walked over to her wheelchair and began to push her towards the large glass doors.
"My money," she said. "I don't have my money."
Anna continued pushing. "Let's get to the shelter, Lily. We can talk about your money then, OK?"
Lily tried to twist her neck around to look at Anna, but the pain in her shoulder stopped her. She nodded her head.
Lily smiled at herself in the mirror. She twirled around so the edge of the dress flared out. She giggled, then picked up a nearby hairbrush and used it for a microphone. She belted out "All of Me", by Billie Holiday. She twirled around again, and when she faced the mirror, she was on a stage.
The bright lights shone in her face. She couldn't see the audience, but she could hear them chanting her name. She walked up to her microphone and started singing "Grandma". The round tones of her voice carried throughout the room. She stopped singing and bowed.
She raised her face to look out at the crowd and was now facing an alley wall. She was sitting next to a garbage can. The microphone was now a large rat. She screamed and tried to stand. The rat looked at her and said, "Wake up…wake up…wake up…"
Lily jumped up and was immediately greeted with a sharp pain in her neck, shoulder, and face. She slowly lay back down. She'd been dreaming. She looked around the room. She was in an office. There was a desk and chair. She was lying on a cot next to the door. She blinked her eyes and focused on the room. She could hear people talking outside the door. She pulled herself around so both her feet were on the floor, then touched her face and felt the large Band-Aid. She braced her hands next to her and slowly raised herself up to a standing position. She used the desk to steady herself. She slowly walked to the door and opened it. She could hear talking down the hall in the dining room. She used the wall of the hallway to steady herself as she slowly walked.
When she entered the dining area, she saw people in line, getting food. When she felt steady on her feet, she pushed herself away from the wall and walked to a nearby table and sat down.
Marc, who was serving food, noticed Lily as she walked into the dining room. Her cheek was covered with a large bandage. He watched her walk over to a table and sit down.
He leaned over the person standing next to him and said, "Hey, can you take over for me? I'm going to grab Lily a cup of coffee."
He left the food line and walked over to the coffee cart, poured a cup of coffee, and took it to Lily.
"How are you feeling? I heard you had some night," he said as he handed her coffee. She tried to smile, but the pain was overwhelming.
Lily took the coffee and said, "Thank you." She took a small sip and sat the cup down. "Lily," he said, "what happened?"
She looked at him. She couldn't remember everything. She only had bits and pieces. She took another quick sip of coffee and said, "I don't remember. I was in the liquor store, and the man wouldn't take my money. He hit me with something. I don't know." She shook her head. "He has my money. I was trying to get my money," she whispered.
He looked at her cheek. "Yeah, I think you got roughed up pretty bad. I really think it's time you came off the street, Lily."
She looked at him. "All I need is a bottle to drown out the noise and a little food from time to time. Nobody cares about me, and I don't care about anybody," she replied.
"Now, you and I know that isn't true. You can't keep living like this. You could have really been seriously hurt a lot worse than a gash in the cheek. You could have been killed. Luckily, people like Anna do care about you. She went and got you last night. Brought you here. Put you to bed. She hasn't even been home. She stayed here with you all night." He paused for a moment. "She even got your money."
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill. As Lily looked at the money, she could feel her bottom lip start to quiver. Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked, and they streamed down her face.
Anna walked over to Marc and Lily. Tallulah was with her. "Lily, how are you feeling? Would you like some lunch?" she said as she sat down.
"Lunch?" Lily echoed.
Tallulah sat down next to Lily. "Hi, Lily. Do you remember me?" she asked.
She nodded her head. "The alley," she replied. She looked at everyone around the table.
"I wasn't always on the street, you know," she said. "I had a family, my brother, my mama, and Owen." She put her hand up to her head.
"Do you want something for your head?" Anna asked.
Lily nodded yes. Anna stood up and walked toward her office.
"I was going to be a singer. I even made an album," Lily continued.
"What happened?" asked Tallulah.
She wiped a tear from her face. "Everything happened. I didn't have a say in who my daddy was. I didn't even know."
"I don't understand," Tallulah said, sounding confused.
"How could you?" Lily replied.
Tallulah didn't answer.
"Lily, do you have any family we can call? Anyone who can help you?" Marc asked. Lily frowned. "Family?" She paused. "I have no family, Marc. Not anymore."
Anna returned with two aspirin and handed them to Lily. She quickly put them into her mouth and washed them down with coffee.
"Lily, I'd like to find out more about your singing and your album. Would you be willing to let me interview you?"
Lily looked at Tallulah. "Interview me? What for?" she replied.
"I write for a small independent newspaper. I'm doing a story on the shelter in hopes of bringing awareness, and maybe even donations for the new shelter," Tallulah said.
Lily didn't speak. She looked down into her coffee cup.
Tallulah continued. "You have the most beautiful singing voice, Lily. It's your voice that resonated with me. So hauntingly beautiful. People get paid millions and don't sound half as good as you. Your voice is really something special."
"Songbird. That's what Grandma and Owen called me, songbird," Lily replied. She had a faraway look, then suddenly spoke.
Her voice was rough and angry. "I had a chance. A shot. And then someone took it all away!
That selfish bitch. She had everything and wanted us to have nothing!" She quickly stood up.
The room started to spin, and she quickly sat back down.
"My head hurts. I want a drink. Not this shit coffee. I want a real drink!"
Tallulah looked at Marc. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just thought if people could hear you sing…" She trailed off.
Lily's face softened. She didn't feel well. She wanted to lie down. She wanted a drink.
"Can I lie down?" she asked, looking at Anna.
Anna nodded her head and replied, "You can use the cot in the office where you were. I wish I had something better. I know you don't feel well, Lily, and I understand. But I'll need to get some information from you for the hospital. We can talk about it tomorrow. Okay?" Lily nodded her head.
Marc stood up, then helped Lily to her feet. They slowly began to walk toward the hallway.
As Tallulah watched them walk away, Anna saw the look of disappointment on her face. "Don't worry, Tallulah. Lily will be okay. I know she has things she won't talk about. We all do. Secrets. I know I got mine." She smiled and walked toward her office.
As Tallulah sat in the dining room alone, she heard Zoe's voice in her head. Tread the fuck lightly on this one.
"Yeah, yeah," she said out loud.
She looked at her watch. She was doing the dinner service for Zoe. She grabbed her bag and pulled out her cell phone.
She texted Zoe:
Omw. At shelter.
She waited a moment and didn't get a reply. She put her phone back in the bag and stood up to leave. Just as she started to walk toward the exit door, she heard Marc call her name. She stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"Where you running off to?" he said with a smile.
"Work. I wait tables for Zoe at her place. I'm doing dinner tonight. I told her I'd help prep today. I gotta get going. It can be a fucked-up bus ride."
"Bus?" Marc said, sounding surprised.
"There's nothing wrong with the bus. It's a perfectly fine mode of transportation," she replied. "Besides, I'm not in the market for a car at the moment."
Marc shook his head. "Do you listen?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" she said.
He grinned. "I'm a Lyft driver. I could give you a lift." "Oh," said Tallulah. "You did tell me that, didn't you?" "I just gotta grab my stuff. " "Okay," she said.
She watched him jog away, then quickly checked her breath by cupping her hands up to her face and blowing. She pulled out her phone, opened her camera app, and looked at herself: Dreads – check; face – check. She closed the app and put the phone back in her purse.
Marc reappeared and casually jogged toward her. "Okay," he said. "Let's go." Tallulah smiled
and followed him to the parking lot.