All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

36
dialed the number indicated on it. After
several rings, a frail, old, frightened, female
voice answered.
“ … Yes”
“Hello,” Daniel said. “You called early this
morning, ma’am, and left a message”
“Who are you”
“The county housing agency. Are you in …
New York”
“Yes. Yes. Oh, God, thank you for calling
me back.” The old, frightened voice
abruptly sounded a bit relieved. “I’ve been
calling everybody. Whoever I could find in
the phone book.”
Daniel was not surprised. “You should
know, ma’am, this office is for counties
north of you. You really should be calling
authorities where you live.”
That seemed to make her alarmed again and
set her back.
“But I’ve been calling everyone where I live.
Nobody gets back to me, nobody helps me.
I’ve been trying to get help for days. Please
don’t hang up on me. I need someone to
help me. Please help me.”
At such urgency there was little else for him
to say: “Don’t worry. I won’t hang up.”
Daniel swung around in his seat and again
looked out his office window down on the
people, the stores and the buildings on the
street across from him. “I’ll do everything
I can.”
Her voice was extraordinarily weak. “Thank
God, thank God … .”
The intensity of her need made him feel like
a special mission had been assigned to him.
“Tell me why you called. Please.”
“I called because I don’t know what to do.”
He thought he heard her crying.
“I’m a very sick woman, you know.”
“I … I’m sorry.”
“I worked for the government, too. And
got workers’ compensation. I was hurt on
the job. That was several years ago.” She
hardly paused. “And now I’m in my late
70s, and I have diabetes, and I can hardly
walk out of the house, and God knows
what else I have.”
“Again … I … I … I’m sorry.” It was all he
could think of saying. Was his work even
impoverishing his ability to think and speak
“I’ll make it, though. I’m not pathetic,” the
old woman proclaimed, suddenly affecting
energy. “But they put me in a terrible
building. Sir, you should see the building I
live in. It’s so old and falling apart. And the
neighborhood is very dangerous. I’ve never
complained. But now … it was so cold this
winter. You know how cold it was”
“Yes, ma’am. I know. It was very cold.”
Daniel thought to be a bit light-hearted. “I
live north of you.”
“Well, sir, it was so cold, I could hardly get
out of bed.” She was not to be deterred. “I
slept in the bed with my overcoat on. Can
you believe that In this country Letting the
landlord do that to American citizens. Not
giving people any decent heat.” She would
not stop. “Someone could have frozen to
death. Probably did. What is this country
coming to And it’s going to get worse
and worse.”
On this point, Daniel thought he could not
have agreed more, though he kept his silence
and continued to listen.
“So the pipes burst. That’s what happened.
The pipes in this house burst. There was no
water for who knows how long. I couldn’t
wash myself, or wash clothes. I heated water
over the stove. And then inspectors came.
And now the building is condemned and
everybody has to get out.”
Unable to resist the impulse, Daniel looked
outside onto the street, this time spying
young women leading a long line of small
children farther downtown, toward City
Hall. The children all held on to a rope to
be orderly and for safety.
“We have to get out.” The old woman was
implacable in her fear. “And nobody knows
where we’re going to go. We don’t have any
money. We hardly get by. People are going
to starve if things don’t get any better. I’ve
got to leave in two weeks. I have to get out
of my apartment and find another place to
live in. How am I going to do that I can’t
do that I don’t even know how to do that
Young man, you’ve got to help me. I don’t
know what to do. I don’t know who else
to ask.”
Daniel sighed deeply. His neck tightened up.
It had been doing that for some time now,
though it never used to.
The old woman’s voice seemed to echo in
his brain:
“Please help me I have nowhere else to go.”
When the call was over, Daniel was
not exactly sure what to do, despite his
experience. He had schooled himself in crisis
situations to take his time, to see if there
weren’t some kind of solution possible. But
nothing came to him. Then, rather fancifully,
though not unheard-of for him, he decided
perhaps his unconscious or subconscious, or
whatever his analytic friends called it, could
work on the problem while he focused his
attention elsewhere. The something else was
easy. He would call his wife.
Taking up his cell phone, Daniel punched in
Emily’s code, and after a number of rings,
she answered him, which was very relieving.
Perhaps she was no longer angry with him.
“Where are you” he asked her. He hoped
she was alone.
“I’m at the beach. We’re at the beach.”
Of course – he had forgotten. The town
beach on the shore. A very rich and
private place.
“How did the trip go No trouble Did
the car perform all right” He hoped she’d
say yes.
“Mainly.”
“Mainly”
“That sound,” Emily explained. “That
sound the mechanic you went to doesn’t
understand. The car made that sound most
of the trip. But I kept the windows closed,
and the radio on. And talked to the kids.”
“I see,” Daniel said. “How’s the visit
going”
At this question, Emily’s voice seemed to
brighten a little, perhaps despite herself.
“Good.”
“What did you do Did your folks take
you all out to eat”
She really didn’t want to hurt him.
“ … Yes.”
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011