Cassie's Fancy Lady

Cassandra lived about 10 minutes walk from where she was going this morning, but often it took her longer to get anywhere. Papa always said time wasn't on her side because she couldn't resist stopping to inspect a tree or talk with someone, usually a homeless person.

During the months she hadn’t been in school, Cassie really struggled with being stuck inside. Their apartment was either too cold, or too hot & there wasn't much food to eat, especially since her mother lost her job. Eating distracted her and she was growing a lot, so her empty tummy made it hard to focus.

Her family couldn't afford to have internet, so school was no longer a part of her life. Instead, her Mama gave Cassie her lessons even though she wasn't doing well with it. She missed being with all her friends from school.

Before her parents had fled their home country, her Mama worked as a government official in charge of city planning. But, because she wasn't very good at speaking English yet, she had been working as a waitress. When the sickness started, everyone who worked in restaurants, like her Mama, had been let go. For months they had only Papa's income and it wasn't enough.

Even though Cassie was young, she sensed the fear her parents had. If things didn't change soon, she felt certain they would end up like the people she saw living on the dirty streets.

A few weeks ago, her best friend, Xavier, saw her on the apartment stoop and came running over to talk. He had just come from the old community center and knew Cassie would want to know what was happening.

Xaiver told her there was going to be a big event at the center in a few weeks. It was going to be done safely with strict social distancing and held outside. Everyone just had to be masked up. There were going to be cash prizes and other stuff, like food and boxes of the stuff everyone needed, but couldn’t buy anymore.

One of the fancy government people, a young woman who had grown up a few blocks away, had raised a bunch of money online for her old community. The people in their neighborhood had been hard hit by all the restrictions; stores had closed, people were jobless and most had nothing saved up to fall back on. The worst part was it had been the old ones who had been dying from the virus.

Xavier’s news made Cassie super excited, as she determined she would win the contest and give the prize money to her parents. She wasn’t old enough to understand just the rent for their apartment was triple the amount of the prize, but neither her mother or father were willing to mention this to Cassie. She had been so quiet lately, they didn’t have the heart to tell her they needed much more to get by.

Cassie ate her small breakfast and ran into her room to grab the hairbrush and doo dads so Mama could put her hair up in braids. She wanted to look her very best for the photos they would take of her after she won!

She left the apartment with a quick kiss on her mama’s cheek, grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. Once she landed on the steps to the building, Cassie stopped and again reminded herself to go quickly and not dither around, at all. She jumped the last step and started skipping towards the community center.

She managed to keep going without stopping, even as she pasted the special tree outside Mr. Washington’s store on the corner. His was the only place that had stayed open through it all, but his was the only store that sold liquor.

One time at dinner, her father had declared this was a big problem in their neighborhood. Too many people drank too much. To him, Mr. Washington’s store ought to have been closed like everyone else’s, but the mayor said liquor stores were ‘essential’. Cassie’s parents didn’t drink alcohol, so she hadn’t figured out why liquor was considered, “essential”.

The grounds around the community center were still quite empty when she got there, but Cassie noticed tables had been set up around the lawn and volunteers were putting boxes of diapers, food, water and toys on them. Other volunteers were roping off areas around the tables, obviously preparing for a lot of people and needing to make the social distancing easier while they stood in line.

Then she looked over to the entrance gate and saw Xavier as he walked in, so she ran over to greet him.

“Hey, are you ready for the contest, Zay!? Do you have any idea what it will be about? Could it be a spelling bee, or maybe we’ll just have to know all the capitol cities for all 50 states? Oooo, I am so excited! …

Xavier didn't greet her like he usually did, his head was bent down and he didn't look at her.

Hey, Zay! What’s up, you look upset?”

When he finally looked up, Xavier had streaks on his face that looked like he’d been crying. Little tracks of salty white on his dark brown cheeks made Cassie worried. He looked down at his feet and said,

“We had some news this morning about my gramma in Detroit. She got sick last week and this morning she had to go into the hospital cause she was having trouble breathing. My uncle called Ma and told her she can’t even talk on the phone with Nana. She’s really, really upset.

“It was hard for me to leave just now, cause Ma was still crying. We don’t have enough money for Ma to go to her, so everything is all messed up. I HATE this virus!

"Ma asked me to get all the bottles I can today and take them to the recycling station for money. She’s trying to scrape up enough money to get the bus up to Nana.

"Oh Cassie, what if she dies?” and another big tear rolled down his face.

Cassie didn’t know what she could say that would make a smidge of difference, but her usually happy friend needed something. Why were all their problems about not having enough money?

She thought suddenly how unfair everything was, even before the pandemic, but things had gotten worse; much worse, since.

If the people she loved just had a little more, their problems wouldn’t be such a big deal. Seemed like everyone she knew had the exact same problem. If there was just a little more to go around, people would be able to carry on. But, no - and now - most of them couldn’t even get enough food for their families. Her tummy growled a bit at that thought.

Her parents said all the time how they never thought this could happen in America, but things had been the same in their home country before the war began. The rich were outnumbered by the poor and still, they just kept getting richer while the rest got more hungry.

The loudspeaker started crackling and Cassie looked up to see the grassy area had filled up with people while she’d been listening to Xavier’s news. The fancy lady from Washington was beginning to talk about the contest and what it was all about. As Cassie listened, she realized there was no way for her to even enter the contest. It was only for grownups, not kids.

All at once, Cassie made a decision. She’d heard from her Mama about decisions, rather than choices. Decisions were forever, choices weren’t. She decided she was going to get the money Xavier’s mother needed to be with Nana somehow, some way. Then she just marched up to the lady from the government and stood in line to talk with her.

It took a long time and Zay was getting agitated waiting for her. He kept saying he had to get going, but Cassie just looked at him and silently told him to keep it down. She knew she would be able to get him what he needed AND what she needed, as well. Weirdly, she didn’t know HOW she would do this but she was certain the fancy lady had answers.

She had made it to the front of the line and was all ready to talk with the lady when the her phone was handed to her by her assistant. The fancy lady listened for a moment, then stood up abruptly and apologized to everyone who was waiting in line. She announced she had to leave, but to keep on going with their day and enjoy the time together, then started to gather up her things.

Cassie knew she had to do something, and fast. Even though Cassandra had always been very shy, the decision she had just made was burning inside her. She squeezed through all the people around her, until she was right in front of the fancy lady.

She was beautiful in every way, especially up close. Cassie felt a moment of fear but overcame her shyness & blurted everything out to her. This beautiful, imposing young woman hunkered down on one knee to listen to Cassie. Then she took out a little black book she had tucked away in her briefcase. She wrote Cassie’s full name, address and her Mama’s phone number in it, then she took Cassie in her arms and hugged her like she was her own child. She told her not to worry. She had an idea.

Her assistant was hovering behind her, so the fancy lady turned and gestured to her to come closer. As she whispered something to her, pointing to the address she’d just written down in her little book; she looked sidelong at Cassie and gave her a beautiful smile. Then she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out some money, which she gave directly to Xavier. She hugged him and said,

“Use this to make sure your mother gets to your gramma and know that I am praying for her full recovery, OK?”

Xavier stared at the bills in his hand and started crying harder, but this time, with happy tears.

Then she turned to Cassie and said,

“You had a lot of courage to talk to me about your family and I’m always searching for people like you; smart, kind and direct. You’re just a little girl, but you have the spirit of a tiger. And Cassandra, you made me remember myself at your age. Full of potential, without enough opportunity.

My assistant, Clare, has my permission to access the a fund I put aside for kids who have it harder than others. The only thing I want in return from you is that you keep in touch and share your successes and struggles with school and your life. My main goal is to help you get the education you need to become a leader because you already have the foundation for that.

Clare will follow you home and arrange for the funds I set aside to be given to your family. OK?”

Cassie’s mouth dropped open and she did the only thing she could think of. She threw her arms around the fancy lady and hugged her. Then the fancy lady gave her a big smile and was gone.

The next hour was a blur. The assistant walked with Cassie to her apartment and sat down with Cassie’s Mama to tell her what the fancy lady had said. Mama’s face was wet with tears as she listened.

Then she wrote a check for $20,000 to pay the back rent and 6 months more. It was also enough to supplement food for the family, which Clare said was important for learning.

She told Cassie’s mama there was another, bigger fund, which had been created to help children, like Cassie, who showed promise but didn’t have many opportunities. For the next few years, they would supply extra funding to support Cassie’s education, even providing for her through college, but only if she applied herself. Clare promised she would be in touch and began to made her way to the apartment door, with the little black book, folded into the crook of her arm.

Sometimes, miracles happen and Cassie learned that day what a blessing some extra money can be. She was excited and so glad she listened to her Mama about making a decision.

It seemed something bigger than all of them was at work today. Cassie knew she would never forget the fancy lady with little black book and determined to get one for herself one day.