All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

37
“At that restaurant”
“We did go there, Daniel.”
“And shopping today Your mother took
you to those expensive shops”
“Some of them are chains.”
“Some chains.”
“Daniel, why are my parents bad because
my father’s successful” she asked him.
“They haven’t hurt you.”
When the call with Emily was over, Daniel
turned his attention still another time to his
window, now even more unable to think of
what to do. Life was becoming too complex
and hard for him. Not quite directly across
the street, students with their textbooks sat
on a stoop in front of a tall building that
housed a print shop on the street level and
apartments on the three stories above the
shop. The young people also struck him as
archetypal, iconic. Daniel wrote a fourth
haiku of the day, forcing a wistful and
bemused feeling upon himself. He had no
trouble writing the poem:
Students on that row
Of brownstone steps – I saw them
Twenty years ago.
Minutes later, however, leaving his office
and returning to the main work area,
Daniel compelled himself back to the task
at hand. What could he possibly do for the
old woman What could he come up with
Who did he know For a start, he walked
to his friend Jenna’s desk. She supervised the
interns. Donovan was on a site inspection.
“Jenna, I just talked to a lady from the city.
She about broke my heart. Apparently, she
had her phone book out, called any place
that had to do with housing, and got us.”
Jenna looked up from her own work. She
had papers scattered across her desk. “What
did the woman say”
“She’s in her late 70s, her building’s
condemned, she has to move out, and of
course she has nowhere to go and absolutely
no one to help her.”
Jenna sighed. “Terrific. I thought I’d heard
it all.”
Daniel sat down in the chair beside Jenna’s
desk. “And I’m not sure what I can do,”
he explained to her. “Maybe we can find
out where she might be on the list for
another apartment”
Jenna stopped her work, understanding
what Daniel was asking, and began to type
into her computer. “That’s an idea. Hold on.
I’ve already done that a few times this week.
What’s her name”
Daniel told her and Jenna finished
processing their inquiry on the computer.
Both she and Daniel waited a few moments
and then, reading her computer screen,
Jenna seemed amazed at what was there and
turned to Daniel. “Are you ready Guess
what number she is”
Daniel gestured that he hadn’t a clue.
She passed along the bad news: “Your old
woman’s number 5,322.”
“What” Daniel felt slapped.
“That’s right. 5,322.”
“But that’s insane,” he said.
“We live in an insane world.”
He tried to explain to Jenna, who didn’t
need an explanation. “But the woman will
be dead before she’s moved halfway up that
list. I’d put money on it.”
“Well, that’s the situation,” Jenna replied,
no happier than he.
Daniel shook his head. “Is there any way
she can get jumped”
“You mean put over all the other people”
Daniel wasn’t sure what to say. “I … I
guess. Her case is so bad. She is on workers’
compensation.”
Jenna was not impressed. “That might mean
something. But there’s probably lots of other
people who could say the same.”
“I know.” Daniel glanced around the large
room. Everyone was working so furiously.
“I just want to help her,” he said. “I just
want to help a sick, old lady find a decent
place to live. He looked at his colleague.
“Can’t we do something for her”
“Daniel, I’m just a clerk,” Jenna answered
him. “I wish I were a commissioner, but I’m
not. What about Anthony Maybe he can
do something. Or think of something. He
likes you.”
Daniel considered her suggestion for a few
moments. It was plausible. “I’ve been on
committees with him.”
“Call him,” Jenna said. “See what he says.”
Thinking about it further, Daniel finally
nodded.
“All right,” he told her.
Once back in his office, Daniel called his
colleague, who also was in New York City.
He and Anthony had worked together in the
past few years.
“Tony, you’ve got to help me,” he said to
his colleague, when Daniel had him on the
phone. “I know it’s probably out of line. But
this lady’s in a very bad place.”
“Everybody’s in a very bad place, Daniel.”
“Tony … ”
“I can’t jump her.”
Daniel probably went farther than he should
have. That’s how strongly he felt, especially
these days. “Tony, the woman’s nearly
80, she has no money, no family, she’s an
invalid, she has to get out of a condemned
house we once put her in.” He raised
his voice in frustration at his colleague.
“Somebody’s got to do something.”
At first, Anthony was silent, but then he
said: “You’re getting yourself too worked
up, old buddy. Let me see … Let me see.”
“Yes … see,” Daniel said. “See.”
As the day went on Daniel tried hard not
to be too emotional. After all, that’s what
everyone said was best for him. He looked
out his office window still a further time
on the street below, to see if there were
not something now which would strike
him as poetic, but at the moment nothing
particularly special or exciting came to him.
This being the case, he turned back to his
papers and messages, again forcing himself
to be as resolute as possible, and sorted
through the number of calls he needed
to make and had planned to make the
day before.
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011