Authors: Jennifer Browning
“Have him give me a call.”
“I may do that, but this one’s got a young girl to take care of so he’d need a job that is completely on the up and up.”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Moore, everything we do is on the up and up.”
“Well, that’s good to know. Now, tell me how your mother is doing…”
The conversation continued for another hour.
Vanessa so much enjoyed hearing about the adventures in La
La
Land. Dorothy had devoted herself to fundraising for children’s charities since Leonard’s death. She had become quite a fixture in philanthropic circles and was a highly sought after
contributor
and organizer of events – both for her money and her connections with local establishments. Because many of her favorite charities were also the pet projects of local celebrities, she found herself at the occasional award show or movie premiere. It all sounded so glamorous. A part of Vanessa pined for that life, but the nagging heaviness in her chest told Vanessa that she had seen the
last of her glamorous days. A
twinge near her heart spoke up as if to confirm this suspicion.
After the call,
Nessa
reflected on her old life. She found herself full of hope and excitement for Andy, but perhaps a little jealous too. If only she had the chance to be twenty again, with a loving family and her whole life ahead of her. She could have set the world on fire. That was her gift to Andy, she supposed, a stable life and a bright future.
Nessa
hoped she would be around long enough to see it.
10
Nessa finally made an appointment to go see a doctor down at the hospital in Greenville sometime around Thanksgiving that year. He was a kind looking gentleman with plenty of gray hair. She described feeling like she had less spunk than usual, the odd pains that came with old age. As she’d hoped to hear, he proposed that perhaps it was just the general wearing down process that comes with time, but
he wanted
to
run some tests. He was surprised to find that she hadn’t had an annual exam in 50 years and never had a mammogram. He took some blood and gave her a referral slip for a lab that could perform the mammogram. She promised to call as soon as she got home, but a
nagging
bit of fear kept her from doing that.
Instead, she threw herself into volunteering and called Dorothy for a help with her other project. Nessa knew that Dorothy would know just how to create a scholarship for a specific person – Holly Lewis. Together, they talked with the college Holly had applied to and made arrangements to interview Holly for the scholarship based on her unique qualifications. Nessa wanted to meet Holly in person to see whether she was a girl who would use the money as a hand up or a hand out. Nessa flew out
to Arizona and Dorothy met her there. It was wonderful to see her old friend again after so long.
Dorothy simply loved the story of Holly and the little girl being raised by her uncle and was genuinely eager to meet her as well. The ladies met with Holly at the hotel they were staying at in
a
roomy seating area overlooking the desert. Nessa had only seen a driver’s license photo, but
Holly
was unmistakable as she walked up the very long drive from the main road. She must have taken the bus. Obviously, she didn’t know the two ladies watching were the ones waiting for her and she approached the front desk and was directed to the restrooms.
“She must be going to freshen up” Dorothy observed.
“Well, I would hope so if she walked up from the road.”
“At least it’s not summer, I’m sure it gets unbearably hot here in the summer.”
“What do you think so far?”
“She looks nice.”
She did look nice. She returned from the bathroom with her hair brushed and pulled back into a loose bun, fresh lipstick applied and a folder in hand. Holly was really trying.
Dorothy looked mischievously at Nessa
and stag
e whispered “Showtime!”
complete with jazz hands
before standing and waving the girl over. Holly had a solid handshake and a friendly smile. The collar of her jacket didn’t quite hide a tattoo on her neck of Jessica’
s name, definitely an impulsive act.
The “interview” began and Nessa got to learn quite a lot about Holly. She was surprisingly candid. The scholarship for which she was interviewing was available to orphaned children who showed a commitment to academic excellence as well as clearly defined career and personal goals.
They strongly encouraged Holly’s counselor at the community college to submit her name for it.
Holly had submitted an essay at their request describing, academically, the turmoil her life went through when her parents died. In person, she put quite a bit more emotion into the tale. Her sister Janna was 19, but still just a kid herself when
they were orphaned
.
Holly
was particularly close with her mother and spent several months doing nothing, hardly eating or sleeping. She joked that she probably didn’t even shower
during that time
. For a few years, they tried to make it on their own. J
anna got two jobs,
but couldn’t pay the mortgage.
Eventually the house was foreclosed on. They lost almost everything because they had just ignored the notices and continued to live there until they came home one day to find themselves locked out.
Holly had known a boy that she asked for help. They broke into the house together and grabbed as many of
her
things as they could carry, but a lifetime of memories had to be left there. Holly described not being proud of it, but she had nowhere to go. Janna moved into an apartment with a friend and Holly had slept on the couch, but it felt so temporary. She moved in with the boy, Noah, and his mother for a while.
“What about your grandparents? Couldn’t you have asked them for help?”
“My mom’s parents have even less than we do. My dad’s parents have never been around. They didn’t really like my mom.”
Nessa struggled with whether or not to explore that more fully. After all, a scholarship interviewer surely wouldn’t delve this far into a young girl’s life. It was a hardened heart that would turn their back on grandchildren they had never known, but family
relationships
can be
complicated.
Holly continued talking about her time living with Noah and its challenges.
“We had a daughter, but things didn’t work out between us. Janna found us a place here with our cousin and we moved, but I couldn’t bring Jessica with me… that’s her name: Jessica. It was the worst day of my life, but I knew Noah would take good care of her. He loves her too.”
Nessa
perked up at mention of Jessica. “Do you see her often?”
“No, I don’t. I kept figuring I didn’t want her to be with me like this. You know? I wanted to get a job and my own place and then I’d be able to get her back or at least get her to visit with me sometimes. And that day just never seems to come. Then Noah up and disappeared and his mother won’t tell me where he went.
S
he’s got a right to be mad at me for leaving them all responsible for her, but I thought it was the best thing for her.”
“Don’t you think she might want to know her mother?” Dorothy asked earnestly.
“Would you want to?
I think about her every day, but my mother was there for me from day 1 and even still I sometimes got mad at her. I don’t think Jessica’s going to want to know the mother that left her.
” Holly looked close to tears.
“Children are very good at forgiving.” Nessa added. “Besides, we didn’t talk about the childcare stipend. It sounds like you
might
be eligible for that.”
Dorothy raised an eyebrow at Nessa.
“The
childcare s
t
ipend
?”
Holly looked up at them excitedly.
“The foundation recognizes the need for parents to be able to concentrate on their studies and provides an additional stipend for childcare where appropriate so that the recipient can attend classes.”
“Do I need to apply for that separately? I would definitely be interested in that.”
“Don’t
worry,
we’ll submit the application along with our recommendations. Now, I presume that reconciling with your daughter is one of your personal goals. What are your other personal goals?”
“Really my personal goals are the same as my professional ones. I want to be able to support myself and my daughter
. Other than that, I’m not really sure. I’d like to get my own place, a car and get married someday and maybe have more children… but on purpose this time.”
The interview went on for another
hour
during which Holly described a temporary office job she’d held where they asked her to design a flyer for a promotion they were having. She was the youngest person in the office and they just assumed that she knew how to use every computer program they had. She sort of muddled her way through it, but they were very pleased with the final result. She opened the folder to show copies of her design and pointed out how she had morphed the company logo to go with the campaign. She was clearly very proud of her work. That kind of passion was hard to find and Nessa had an idea what kind of classes Holly would gravitate towards.
11
“She seemed like a nice
girl,
maybe you like her too much.” Dorothy noted after Holly left.
“What do you mean I like her too much?”
“What I mean is that I thought this was a
factfinding
mission and I think you’re seriously thinking about giving that girl a windfall of money.”
“I’m not doing anything with it at the present time.”
“What about your family? Don’t you have a granddaughter of your own that might like a free ride in school?”
“You would like Andrea very much. She’s smart and spunky. I’ve already paid for her tuition. She got a scholarship that covers most of her living expenses and she keeps a part time job for play money. She likes to stay busy.”
“Sounds a lot like someone I know, but you didn’t answer the question. Why would you use the money you have to help a girl that you don’t even know… who left her daughter in the care of a boy who was also not ready to be a parent? I’ll agree right now that her life sounds like a Greek tragedy, but that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to help.”
“Doesn’t it? If I don’t help, who will?”
“I know that when you look at her you see yourself a little
bit… and all those girls from The C
lub with lives that went to crap before they were old enough to have anything to say about it.
But you moved away so that you could start a good life for your own family.”
“And I’ve done that in spades, but just imagine how many lives I can help by helping this one girl. Getting her on her feet will benefit her and her daughter, quite possibly the
girl’s father and definitely her uncle. I suspect that it will even help my granddaughter out a little bit. Besides, surely you can understand. If you had met her just after her parents died, when life was raining sideways on her, she would have been one of the children you help every day through your charity work. The only difference is she didn’t know where to go for help.”