“Burr!” Chris was soak to the bone from the rain coming down.

She had to work a double shift at the Circle K, and it had started raining before she left. The thin jacket she wore to work, was soak. She kicks her tennis shoes off and runs over to the portable heater she bought at the thrift store with her first paycheck.

She hangs the clothes she had on, out to dry out on the laundry rack. That included the tennis shoes she just took off. She was lucky to find the clothes rack and were lucky it was on sale.

Once her clothes were drying, she puts on her flannel nightgown and slippers. She walks over to her father’s workbench and fire up the camping stove and empty a jar of spaghetti into it. She fills a pot of water and add a little oil to it and boils the water to cook some noodles.

She liked the fact that she could have a hot meal now. She turns her father’s old shop radio on and listens to a local station, while she cooks herself some dinner. The portable heater was warming the workshop up.

She stirs the sauce, so it doesn’t burn. She keeps the flame turned down on it. She had been looking around her father’s workshop and found his blow torch. She has used that to heat some toast.

Chris dips a spoon into the sauce to see how it tasted. She reaches for some spices she bought at the dollar store and added them to the sauce. She couldn’t afford a metal strainer but bought a plastic bowl at the dollar store and made herself one. She used her father’s drill to put drain holes in it. Once the noodles were cooked, she drains them and adds them to the sauce. She stirs them together. Chris scoops some out and put it in a bowl to eat.

She sits down on an upside-down five-gallon bucket to eat. Her insides start to warm up once the hot food goes down her throat and into her stomach. She takes a couple of slices of bread and uses it to scoop some of the sauce in the bowl.

She glances over towards one of the windows in the workshop. She covered it up with some plastic her father had in the workshop. She did the same to all the other windows, so she would have some privacy. She spotted her stepbrother looking through the window one morning when she took a shower in the camping shower. She was lucky, that he couldn’t see anything, because the camping shower had a shower curtain blocking her.

She was glad her father stocked up on things for the house or for whatever he was working on. The camping shower was connected to a wash dishpan that she could attach a hose to and run it outside to drain. Once she finishes her dinner, she puts the leftovers into a dish she could either take to school or have the next day.

She cleans her mess up and lays down on her bed. She found a nice warm quilt at the thrift store. She snuggles underneath it as she listens to the radio.

Nora’s House:
Nora was looking at the photos she took of Chris. She managed to follow her after school. She followed Chris to a Circle K that wasn’t too far from the school. She sat the whole time watching Chris see where she went after work.

Nora followed Chris back to the address that was on file at school but instead of going inside the main house. She watched as Chris went further back on to the property to a 10 x 20 wooden shed. That piqued her curiosity, as she left her motorcycle and sneaked up to the wooden shed.

She noticed through one of the windows, that it looked to be filled with woodworking tools. She spotted Chris over in one corner, which looked like it had been set up for someone to live. She watched as Chris went about undressing and slipping her nightclothes on. She also watched as Chris cooked some food on a two-burner camping stove.

She walks back towards the main house and notices that Chris’s stepmother and brother were enjoying a nice take-out meal. There were also several other people inside with them as well.

“So, that’s how things work around here? You treat yourself and your son to nice food and such and make your daughter live in a workshop.” Nora controls her anger as she sneaks back to her motorcycle.

Nora thinks about everything, as she headed back to her place. The other problem was identifying the cars that had come after her and her wife. She had some of her students who were into muscle cars and such keeping an eye for them.

She told her students that one of them had hit her other car and her wife’s car and wanted to find them. She would pay them for information if it turned out to be the cars she was looking for. She pulls her motorcycle into the garage and dismounts. She makes sure the garage door is shut, before heading into the house.

“You’re home late. Did something happened?” Kelly looks at Nora with a questionable look on her face.

“No, everything is fine. I was concerned about a student in my class.” Nora walks over and places a kiss on Kelly’s cheek.

“Oh? Is everything okay with that student?” Kelly knew her wife took an interest in her students.

“Yes and no. She has a roof over her head and is safe so far, but she is forced to live on the money she is making working part-time at a
convenience store.” Nora grabs a couple of hot dogs to heat up.

“That’s not much money. How bad is it?” Kelly knew how much money convenience store employees make.

When she separated from her husband. She had to work three jobs to survive. She lost the house she and her husband had bought when they first got married. She had to move into a cheap studio apartment.

“Well, she’s heating her meals on a two-burner, gas camping stove. She’s sleeping on an air mattress and living inside a 10 x 20 wooden shed, that looked like it had been set up to do woodwork in.”

“Does she have access to a toilet and such?”

“I think so. I couldn’t see much, because she had some sort of plastic sheeting covering the windows in the place.” Nora heats the hot dogs in the microwave.

“Are you going to talk to her about why she is living in the shed?” Kelly wanted to know herself.

“I will. As for finding out who those muscle cars belong to. I have several students in my class who are into the car scene looking for them.” Nora figures the student she asked, will have something for her.

“Do you think that is wise?” Kelly was concerned about the students.

“Yeah, because they have contacts in the muscle car and ten-second car scenes here in Memphis.”

“Well, I hope they are careful.” Kelly didn’t want anything to happen to Nora’s students.