Hailey's Revival

It was colder in the tent tonight. The concrete was especially hard as It was the first day of winter in Seattle. A twenty-four-year-old Hailey Sullivan was living on the sidewalk under the overpass down the street from the three bedroom house she grew up in. Her mother died of Covid last year and she spent the small sum of insurance money on a proper burial for her. When there was nothing more she could do, a kind Sheriff named Jimmy knocked on the door one afternoon and secured the padlock on the door handle as she said goodbye to life as she’d known it.

Hailey laid tucked in the corner of her tent with the faint glimmer of a dying flashlight illuminating a few inches in front of her. Her belongings had diminished over the months from thieves. She was down to a single backpack, which she used for a pillow, the quilt her grandmother made and the small black Moleskin notebook her mother had been sketching in for years. Sometimes Hailey would place the notebook under her hip for cushion. But tonight, she lay inspired by the creative visions of her mother.

She aimed the dim light toward the center of the notebook and carefully turned each page, imagining each of her mother’s sketches; Designs of elaborate toys, figurines and play structures dating back to 1997- the year Hailey was born. She could practically feel the wind on her face as she swung from the dragon swing her mother designed. And stroked the hair of a life like doll the late Ms. Sullivan drew. This was how Hailey spent time with her mother, now- In the legacy of her childlike imagination.

After some time, Hailey turned to the last page where her mother wrote a quote:

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in the bud, was more painful than the risk it took to bloom. - Anais Nin”

The next morning, Hailey was awakened by the sound of hard soled shoes swiftly clacking toward her tent. Her instincts were sharp, and she knew they were headed in her direction. Just as she braced herself for an attack, the footsteps were drowned out entirely by the sound of a garbage bag filled with plastic containers dropping nearby. Hailey quickly sat up and peered through the mesh window of her tent. By then, the clacking shoes were gone and there was no one in sight.

After a moment, Hailey gathered herself and when it felt safe, she emerged to find a black garbage bag tied tightly leaning against her tent. Reluctant to touch it, she kicked it with the side of her foot. The bag had weight, but she could hear the empty bottles clanking together.

She would save this bag for her trip to the recycle center.

Hailey used an old shopping cart from the 99 cent store to gather recycling throughout the day to cash in for food. On occasion, she would share her earnings with a handicapped comrade nearby named Bill. Bill had been homeless for thirteen years. He was an only child, like Hailey and when his parents died, he was left with nowhere to go. Once his old family home foreclosed, he could no longer collect disability checks and without an address or phone number, he could no longer receive any help from the government. He’d spent time in shelters and often spoke of a place in Seattle called Tent City. He preferred to be alone and so under the overpass, twenty feet from Hailey is where he’d slept.

Hailey loaded the bag of bottles onto her cart and began her rounds for the day.

From one garbage to the next, Hailey fished for recyclable containers, counting the cents she was accumulating as she loaded her cart. Every once in a few bins she’d find whole halves of sandwiches or a few slices of unbitten pizza. She always thought of giving to Bill first.

In the strip mall nearby, behind Goodman’s Pizza, there was a large dumpster bin filled with bags of recycle bottles. If Hailey was good with her timing, she would collect as much as she could carry before the sanitation workers came to pick them up. Today, there was another man collecting bags.

“Oh- I-I’m sorry. I d-didn’t mean to-“ She stammered

“Didn’t mean to what? Collect bottles to buy yourself food? Get in here. There’s plenty for everyone. I usually come behind you to make sure you have enough.” The man said.

Hailey noticed the way the man was dressed. He wore black slacks, dress shoes and a sweater. What was he doing in the dumpster? He didn’t look homeless. Maybe he was following Hailey to attack her.

“What did he mean he usually comes behind me?” She thought.

The man collected four bags of recycle into a cart. Hailey raised her guard and kept her own cart close like an iron shield. Just as her heart began to pound in fear the man turned and cheerfully said-

“It’s all yours, Hailey.”

Hailey stood paralyzed with shock. For several moments she could only hear a ringing in her ear and the loud echoing sound of the man’s shoes clacking away.

Hailey left the dumpster without grabbing a bag and raced her cart back to the camp where Bill sat in his wheelchair counting the change he’d collected from the traffic light off the highway.

“Why the hurry, girl?” Bill said without looking up.

Hailey was out of breath and pale as a ghost. Gasping for air between words she tried to tell Bill what happened.

“I….I thi..think I’m be…being followed!” She struggled.

Bill remained calm.

“Well you live on the street, girl. It took me years to figure out people weren’t following me, they just live in the neighborhood.”

“No! I..I recognized his..shoes.” Hailey crashed into her tent with exhaustion. Bill wheeled over to check on her.

“Someone dropped a bag of recycle next to my tent this morning.” She started.

“I thought maybe someone from the neighborhood trying to be nice? When I went to the Pizza Parlor to get more recycle, a man was there and he knew my name. And when he walked away, I recognized his shoes. They sounded the same as the ones I heard this morning.”

Bill sat confused. Trying to make sense of Hailey’s story. After several moments; Bill had an idea.

“Did you look in the bag?” He asked.

“What bag? I left the dumpster bef-“ Hailey sat up as she remembered the bag from that morning.

Hailey quickly shuffled out of her tent and ran to her cart. She removed the bottles and cans she’d collected that day and grabbed the bag the mystery shoes dropped off that morning.

Bill sat in anticipation. “Open it up!”

Hailey untied the knot on the bag and dumped out an array of empty bottles.

“Well??” Bill cried.

“They’re just.....wait.”

Hailey noticed something in one of the bottles. It looked like paper. A message in a bottle?

“Here!” Bill tossed his box cutter over.

Hailey cut at the waist of the dark green plastic bottle and opened it up.

Inside were ten one-hundred-dollar bills, each folded twice.

“Is that what I think it is?” Bill asked.

Hailey looked up at Bill in shock “There’s a thousand dollars in this bottle.”

They sat in shock for a moment, not knowing what to make of it. Bill, still holding the change he was counting, lets out a haggard laugh. Realizing the irony, Hailey joined him with a bellow of laughter. Just as she fell back to the ground in delirium, the light catches another bottle filled with paper.

“Bill! Look!” She shouts.

Another bottle with one thousand dollars in it. One by one, Hailey cut a thousand dollars out of twenty plastic bottles.

Bill sat in his wheel chair and cried as he laughed. Hailey sobbed in gratitude as well.

“So what are you going to do with all that money, girl?” Bill asked.

Hailey wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked around and saw twenty thousand dollars laying still. The money was hers. These hard times were finally over. Perhaps this was an opportunity to prototype her mother’s sketches and revive a dream that died with her. Perhaps she could travel the country with Bill.

“Take me to Tent City.” She said.

Bill smiled and began to sob; Hailey laughed. For the first time ever, they shared a hug. And it was the first hug Hailey had since her mother died and the first one Bill had in thirteen years.

Meanwhile, in the warm administrative office at Goodman's Pizza, the man with the clacking shoes continued to fill empty bottles with cash and drop them off around the city.