4 Feb 2919

Bobbie’s brain was going a mile a minute but she knew that work on her restaurant could not start, she just didn’t have the money yet. And gardens can’t be planted in February. She had to admit that Joan’s enthusiastic pace had affected her a lot but her dedicated workers were working on her apartment and she really didn’t want them to change focus just because she was impatient. She spoke to her general contractor Rocco and they were ready to start the restaurant when her owner suite was finished; after she got her next budget allotment.

She began filling out the paperwork for the liquor licence and found it gave her a sense of progress and a little comfort. She smiled to herself thinking that this was a remnant of being retired government worker of 35 years; she actually enjoyed bureaucracy. She was in a better mood when she went to drop the forms at the office.

On her way out of the Government Service Centre, she passed a homeless shelter and stopped a moment and looked around. She was surprised to see a familiar face. Effie Dawes worked as a care giver, looking after Alex’s mother in her final years. She was a great comfort to Alex and his Mom. “Effie,” she called out.

Effie turned around, pushing her fingers through her hair self consciously. “Oh, hello Ms. Orlov.”

“It’s so nice running into you Effie. Would you like to join me for lunch? My treat,” offered Bobbie impulsively.

Bobbie could tell that everything was not OK with Effie and she eased into conversation after they’d had something to eat. “After Ms. Raisa passed, Mr Alex gave me a ring she had picked out for me. I treasured that ring. I was living in one of those apartments on Fenway Avenue. I was looking for part time work and trying to decide if I wanted to go back to school. I was asleep one Tuesday night and I woke up to the smell of smoke. The building was on fire and they said later that the siding on the outside was hugely flammable and the whole structure went up in flames really fast. I was on the second floor and was lucky I could escape. Many were trapped on the higher floors; I can still feel the chaos and hear the screams. It was horrible. I had to jump out my window but I broke my leg in 2 places and was burned on one side and ended up in the hospital.”

Effie took an unsteady breath and continued. “I had months of physiotherapy and couldn’t work. I was paying very high rent and had no insurance on my old apartment contents. My nest egg for school was gone before I knew it. The burn on my side is paining again and I have nowhere to live and I’m trying to find my way. Oh Ms. Bobbie, I lost the ring in the fire!”

“That’s so sad Effie. I remember hearing about that fire, it was awful and no one person deserves so much bad luck.”

Effie said “I know I have to apply for welfare and maybe get social services to help me find a place to live, but I never seemed to have the time to get organized. Doctors are prescribing pain meds and I’m worried I’ll get hooked. Between you and me, I thought of getting a couple prescriptions and selling them, that’s how desperate I feel.”

“Oh Effie, you look so tired, I have to tell you that Alex passed away last year but I’m sure he would want me to help you. Will you let me rent you a room for a few days so we can talk more and work this out.”

“Ms Bobbie, I’m so sorry about your husband, he was such a nice man. I sure don’t want to be a bother but I think if I could just have a good sleep and get clean, it would make a big difference. But I don’t really have clean clothes and my bag was stolen at the shelter….”

Bobby patted her arm and said “That’s one of the things we’ll work out.” Bobbie got her in the car and drove to a small apartment hotel at the edge of town, stopping at the grocery store to pick up some essentials along the way. She wished she had rooms ready in her motel.

After dropping Effie off, Bobbie realized it wasn’t much further to ‘Thurston Mansion’ (as Bobbie called it) so she texted Trixie to see if they were ‘accepting callers’.

Trixie said by all means and said she’d put the tea on. Well, someone would put the tea on and sent a smile emoji.

“See you in 10,” said Bobbie.

It was great to see Trixie, and she and Vanessa were tripping over themselves to show her around. Vanessa laughed and said, “Bobbie I wanted to talk to you but I have a class to teach in 20, so we’ll have to make a date. Trixie she’s all yours.”

“Sure Vanessa, we need to connect, you all should come to Mom’s for dinner on Friday.” offered Bobbie.”

“That sounds great. Lacey, my daughter, might want to come meet you because she’s the artist who might have gallery space with you.”

“The more the merrier.” Her Mom would be excited, she really used to like the Friday night soirees.

They wished Vanessa good luck with her class.

“Oh Trixie, you’ll never guess who I saw today. Do you remember that nurse’s aid that looked after Alex’s mother? She really helped us cope when we were in Cid City. She was in that horrible apartment fire, she lost everything and is left with chronic pain. She was at the homeless shelter!”

“That’s terrible Bobbie, we can help her find her feet but there’s not much else we can do, is there?”

“Well, I was thinking. I know she’s really dependable and a very hard worker and I was wondering if she could be head of housekeeping at the motel?”

“But you don’t have any guests yet Bobbie! Honestly you don’t have much of a motel yet,” said Trixie skeptically.

“I can keep her busy,” said Bobby. My fist job is to get the girl some clothes and find her a place to live near the motel.”

Bobbie circled back to employees. “Trixie, I need payroll and all that stuff.” Trixie already knew she was hiring Mark for the kitchen and garden.

Trixie laughed and said, “We’re a pair aren’t we? I have no office and you have no guests. So when I have more clients and a more established office I will provide all your HR needs. You will be too small to hire your own. You’ll probably never have more than 20 employees.” She continued, “In the mean time I’ll set up something for your payroll now.”

“Gee thanks Trixie, I want to start a group RRSP too.”

“You’ve been reading up on things. That’s a good idea. I’ll handle that and manage the assets. Will you match employee contributions? asked Trixi.

“10%” said Bobbie.

“That’s very generous Bobbie but it’s good to invest in employees. How much do we pay them? “

Bobbie looked thoughtful and said, “Maybe we’ll start at 20 dollars an hour, and raise it when they get more responsibility.”

Trixie said, “You have good benefits, so people will want to work for you.”

“I hope so,” said Bobbie. “But now I have to find a wardrobe for Effie, I thinks she wears your size shoes.“

“Trust me Bobbie I don’t have any shoes I want to give away but Greg’s Mom did. Me and Vanessa had been cleaning out Dr. T’s closet and we have a big pile to donate so we can start there.”

They found nice jackets, a couple of nice skirt suits, pumps, some walking shoes some almost new gym shoes and a couple nice Cardigans. They added almost new jeans and some nice tees and blouses that matched the sweaters. She also found some hoodies, sweatpants and some cozy night dresses. Bobbie collected it and headed back to her mom’s house to do laundry. Then she carefully picked out a ring from her collection. She knew Alex had given Effie a ruby ring so she chose a ruby ring and put it in a box.

5 Feb 2019

Bobbie found a duffle bag for Effie’s clothes. She stopped at a department store and bought toiletries and she found a bag for those. She also bought some underwear and feminine products. So she headed over to the motel to talk to her.

Bobbie walked in and Effie was sitting on the bed munching on the baby carrots Bobbie bought the night before.

“Wow it feels good to sleep soundly and be clean,” said Effie.

Bobbie set the duffle bag down and said, “I felt so bad that you lost everything that I stopped by a friend’s place and found some things they were donating to a thrift store. So here are a few things for you.”

Effie opened the duffle tentatively, smiled and said, “This is all so nice, I love the jacket!”

Bobbie said, “Great, I wanted to chat about an idea I have.”

She explained about the motel and all the work being done and how she needed to hire someone who could do some cleaning and manage a workers coffee room and eventually manage the housekeeping staff. Bobbie said, “If you agree, I’ll give you a little advance on your paycheck so you can eat and get around and maybe find a place to live out by the motel.”

Effie had tears in her eyes and said, “You are the answer to my prayers, you will definitely be on my mom’s Christmas card list this year!”

Bobbie took the ring box and said, “Since you lost the ring Alex gave you in a fire, I decided to give you this to seal our deal. And we’ll insure it.”

Bobbie got up to say goodbye. “Call me if you need help finding a place or need more time here,” and handed her a card with her number. “We can get you started on some physiotherapy too.”

Effie looked at her incredulously and was too choked up to speak. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Bobbie smiled as she walked out. Alex would be happy with this decision, she figured.