SATURDAY STORY, AUGUST 13, 2022 - CELESTE - PART III

 SATURDAY STORY, AUGUST 13, 2022 - CELESTE - PART III

On Saturdays, I write fiction.  (Maybe I’ll get better).  Celeste is a 90-year-old woman in a retirement center who is relating her story to me.  

*****

Like every week, I was visiting Celeste.  I had known her just a little as a member of our congregation and I had volunteered to visit her weekly.  

We had our glasses of unsweet iced tea and a little casual chit-chat before Celeste started telling her story.

*****

Celeste is talking:

Fourth grade was different.  I had Mr. Quimby as a teacher - my first male teacher.  He was really a sports enthusiast and he refereed NFL football games on Sundays.  His classroom was on the second floor of Cleveland Elementary School in Prairie du Chien Wisconsin.  

On the first day of class, I looked for a poster - like the ones with Pearl, Opal, and Ruby in my previous classes.  But, there wasn’t a poster - or at least not a poster with people in it.  There was a giant poster with the multiplication table.  There was a picture of the United States.  

After the first day of class, I lingered a few minutes so I could ask Mr. Quimby about a poster.

I asked “Mr. Quimby, do you have a poster like they had in first, second, and third grades?”

He looked at me like I was speaking Chinese or Swahili. “Poster?  No, I don’t have any posters.  Why did you ask?”

I stammered, “I always liked looking at the posters in the other classes.”  I didn’t dare say “because the ladies in the poster gave me things and invited me into their world.  My clarinet and my shoes came from the poster ladies.”  He would have definitely thought I was crazy.  

He looked again and said, “That’s nice Celeste, but I don’t like posters.”

Well - that was it.  

I thanked him and went home.  

*****

By fourth grade, all the girls had a common restroom down the hall, not a restroom in the classroom.  During the quiet time in the classroom, we could ask Mr. Quimby if we might go to the restroom.  I can’t remember a time when he said no to me, but he did say no to some of the girls who wanted to leave the room ten times a day.  I couldn’t imagine just hanging out in the restroom.

I was the only girl who requested to go, so I stepped down the hall and into the restroom.  When I finished and came out to wash my hands, the mirror in front of me had a lady smiling at me. The lady was a petite brown lady with a red spot on her forehead.  She had a long skirt that wrapped around her.  Later I learned this was a sari. 

“Hi, Celeste.  I’ve been waiting for you.  I’m Jasmine, your poster friend this year.  Are you ready for an adventure?  It won’t take any time off the clock here so Mr. Quimby won’t miss you.”

I answered, “WOW - I’ve been looking for you.  Let’s go.”

The mirror became as big as a door and I stepped into the frame - woosh!!

It seemed to be a long journey this time, although it didn’t really take any time.  We flew over a large city close to the ground.  Jasmine was holding my hand and yelled at me, “They can’t see us”.  The air was hot and humid and as we flew it whistled in our ears.

We flew past large buildings and came to an area with shacks made of cardboard, and tin roofs, just haphazardly strewn around in a muddy field.  Jasmine dropped us behind a wall.  She whispered, “they can see us now, and you stick out like a sore finger.”

Jasmine had a backpack that I hadn’t noticed. She pulled a traditional sari out of her backpack and gave it to me.  We were behind the wall, so I quickly took off my top and jeans and put it on.

Then Jasmine rubbed some make-up over my face to make me look darker and fit in better.  She pulled a mirror out of her backpack and I looked more like the people on the other side of the fence.

Then she picked up some mud off the ground and smeared it on my sari, legs, arms, and a little on my face.  

When she first started, I said “Ugh, no”.

But, she said, “You need this to understand” and continued the process.

*****

As she was finishing, another lady flew in with a girl.  I gasped - it was Opal and the student was nobody I knew.  Then another lady - who I didn’t know - but called herself “Peridot” flew in with a body, and another and another until there were ten of us.  Ten ladies from posters and ten students who looked to be all about my age.  There were five girls and five boys.  The ladies helped all the other students dress up just like me with appropriate clothes and mud.

The ladies called us together.  Pearl (who was my mentor in second grade) talked to us.

“Today you are going to serve the poorest of the poor.  You are giving them food, water, and lots of love.  Always compliment them on something - even as little as clean hands or their hair being combed.  Give them a sticker”, she held up a sticker that probably said “Love Wins” - but it was in some script and language that Celeste didn’t recognize.  “Give them a side hug (definitely not a front hug).  Some of the older men might want to squeeze you and that is not our purpose today.  If you need a break, raise your right hand and somebody will take your place.”

Pearl pointed to a table.  “You’ll be over here at the table.  In the coolers behind the table will be water, food, and stickers.  Remember, LOVE WINS”.

Well, that was all the introduction we needed.  A boy named Almarl paired up with me and we got right in the middle next to the sandwiches.  Next to us on the left were Tamra and Scotty and on the right, it was LaTasha and El-Taj.  

And, boom.  From someplace we heard a noise and suddenly a horde of people descended on us.  For the next hour?  Two hours?  Four hours? It was hard to tell time.   Tamra and Scotty gave the people paper bowls. We dished up a rice and lentil concoction.  LaTasha and El-Taj gave out tall paper cups of water.  

There were two lines - our line and another line.  Not all the students were handing out food.  Some were lugging vats of rice and lentils, bowls, and water to refill our table.  

I really needed the bathroom and raised my hand.  Immediately Chinta popped into my place.  Ruby was watching me and directed me to the restroom - but she really didn’t have to direct me, I could smell it across the road.  It was a block building and in the building, there was a hole in the floor.  Actually, there were several holes in the floor and I had to wait a few minutes to get access to an open hole.  I pulled up my sari, and pulled my panties down, and squatted and peed.  All around me girls and ladies were doing the same thing - squatting and peeing.  One lady needed to eliminate solid waste right there in front of all of us.  The odor was overwhelming.  One of our girls passed out and Ruby and I helped her out to the fresh air (which wasn’t very fresh - but better than the restrooms.).  When I got back, LaTasha was ready to use the restroom, so I took her place pouring water out of a huge vat into cups.  

I smiled at all the people.  Their language seemed different, but I found something to say in English - although I could hear others on my team use other languages.  “What a nice shirt” (that was maybe about 10 degrees cleaner than most of the others); “I love your eyes” (I think I used that one too frequently as there just wasn’t much I could say positively).  Our line swapped in and out as other students needed the restrooms and also a short break for their own water and sandwich.  

My legs ached.  I had been standing too long.  Ruby saw me and put another girl (maybe Sringal) in my place and she helped me to a chair behind the table.  I was there for maybe fifteen minutes and felt refreshed enough to help another student get a break.  

The people were all so happy to get food and water.  Some looked like they might collapse as they waited in line.  A few of the ladies were pregnant and sat on rocks as they waited their turn.  An older lady had a broken-down walker and we helped her get some food and found her a place to sit and eat.

Around us was bedlam.  

A group of men, maybe they were soldiers or police, came into our area.  They were laughing and had guns.  One of them pointed a gun at a girl who had just gotten food and two of the men grabbed her and she dropped her bowl.  They took her off to the side and tore her sari off her.  The man who had pointed his gun was dropping his pants when Ruby, Jasmine, and others of the poster women showed up.  

The women pushed their way and surrounded the girl. At first, the men seemed to taunt the guardian women, but Jasmine confronted them and they backed off.  Boy was Jasmine mad!!  I could see her gesture and yell and was really in the face of the men - like a mother hen protecting her chicks.  Soon some of the others from the line came up and surrounded the men.  They were outnumbered and even if they had guns they didn’t dare use them or a real riot would ensue.  They walked out, swaggering like proud peacocks, but humiliated that they didn’t win - this time.

This was the first time I spent the night on one of my trips with the poster women.  As sunset finally came, Jasmine and Peridot led us out of the area and into a maze of alleys.  There were three poster women in front, three at the back, and two on each side of us.  

They took us to a concrete block building and to a door.  We were in a room that just barely held us.  There were four chairs and a bathroom.  In the first hour, the bathroom had a line as we all needed to clean up from our day and get the stench out of my nostrils.  

The students all looked to be about my age - but we were very different - white, black, Hispanic, Asian, boys and girls.  Pearl and Opal had brought a cart with what little food was left over and we ate.  I was still hungry and would have asked for more, but I heard Opal tell one of the boys “we don’t have any more food”.  

The poster women had a closet with mats and we picked up a mat and a pillow and slept on the floor - girls on one side boys on the other.

The poster women also slept on the mats scattered around us.

In the middle of the night, somebody was crying in her sleep.  I think it was Tamra.  One of the ladies came over and sat with her, and held the girl in her arms.  

I too had nightmares.  There was a line of a billion people and I was serving them rice and lentils.  My right arm ached, so I started to serve with my left arm.  My back and legs ached.  The people were surrounding me “more, more, more”. Their eyes were empty - like zombies. Then in my nightmare, the soldiers came and shot into the air so they could get food too.  Everybody was gaunt and hungry.  I got so I could only give a spoonful to each person.  I woke up and Ruby was next to me, with a cool cloth on my forehead.  

In the morning, the poster ladies had breakfast - oatmeal with tomatoes, thin bread with honey, and watery milk.  But, somehow it filled up and satisfied us.

We dressed, they provided clean clothes for us and used the restrooms and we headed out.

On that day, we went to a different location.  It was cleaner and inside a building.  There were even chairs.  And, we had new people with us - doctors in white smocks, dentists, nurses, and other medical personnel.  

The kids, as we had started to call ourselves, helped with bandages, antiseptic wipes, and supporting people who couldn’t walk.  

One man had a big gash on his side.  It looked like somebody shoved a knife into him.  I dabbed some antiseptic on him.  He winced and almost cried. A nurse looked at the cut and put an ointment on him, and then I wrapped a bandage around his body so the wound would not be exposed to the air.  

A lady had her eye punched out. Others had all kinds of cuts, bruises, and deformities. 

A pregnant lady actually started into labor in our room.  One of the doctors took her aside and two of the poster ladies helped her deliver a new daughter.  When she heard it was a daughter, the lady cried.  Ruby told me later that women wanted sons that could get better jobs and that daughters would just be a burden on them. 

My white smock soon was spotted with blood and other fluids.  One man had vomited on me while I was treating his wound with antiseptics.  

LaTasha worked next to me, and we alternated with applying antiseptic.  I learned she was in fourth grade in Baltimore Maryland.  I tried to describe to her that I was from Prairie du Chien Wisconsin.  Finally, I said I’m from Wisconsin and near the Mississippi River.

A man came into our area with crutches.  Our nurse said he had lost one of his legs under the knee to gangrene.  We did our best with our antiseptic and ointments.  Our nurse said “he’ll be back.  He’ll be on the streets begging and the infection will grow worse.”

And, there were children.  Most were malnourished with heads that were almost bigger than their tiny bodies.  We treated them as well as we could and then helped them into another room where there was food and information for their mothers.  

For me, the two days were really an eye-opener.  Yes, I was from rural Wisconsin, and here were the ‘poorest of the poor.  It seemed like we were just putting a small bandaid on such large hurts.  Our nurse said it was like a drop in the bucket of hurt and illness.  But, we were making some progress.

After another long day, our poster ladies gathered us up and took us back.  Jasmine held my hand as we headed back to the girls' bathroom in Cleveland Elementary School in Prairie du Chien.  Before we jumped back through the mirror, Jasmine said to me.  “Celeste, there is such poverty and hurts in the world.  We try to do a little good but there just isn’t enough time or enough money to really help out.”

It was a surprise for me, but Jasmine closed her eyes and prayed “God surround Celeste with your love, patience, joy, and peace; give her understanding and compassion, and bless her with wisdom and a special calling”.

Then - boom - I was back through the mirror, back in the girls' bathroom, back in my regular clothes.  I looked at myself in the mirror.  I was clean, my clothes were clean, and I didn’t have any scars or cuts (other than the scar on my knee where I had fallen off my bike three years ago).  I had a family that loved each other and grandparents, cousins, and friends, in a safe world.  

Those two days had planted a seed in me.  

*****

That year had many other experiences.  I’ll share more with you when you stop by next week.

*****

With that, Celeste stood up and I knew our time was over.  I walked with her to the cafeteria where she had lunch.

*****

End of our third Celeste story.  

My friends, yes, we are smug; yes, we are in privileged positions; yes, I have a nice apartment, with running water, electricity, heat, and air conditioning.  

We can’t solve all the problems in the world - but we must keep on trying!!!

LOVE DOES WIN!!!

Karen White © 2022