“Oh, good. Carmen is working.”
Donut Heaven was their last stop for the night. They only went inside when they saw that Carmen was behind the counter.
Hazel opened the door. Carmen greeted Rose and her daughter with a big smile and a friendly “Hola!”
The donut shop was nearly empty. A man sat with his head on his arms at a table in the back corner. A college student leaned over her laptop computer. Neither looked up at Rose and Hazel.
“I have a present for you, Carmen,” Hazel said. She plopped her full shoulder bag down on the counter and opened the zipper of the small pocket on the side. She took out a bracelet with red stones that she’d found in a bag outside the Salvation Army.
“Oh, that’s beautiful,” said Carmen. She put it on her wrist. “Muchas gracias.”
“De nada,” said Hazel. “Teach me a new word.”
“Say please,” said Rose.
“Please.”
Carmen taught Hazel a new Spanish word every time they saw each other. Rose left them to the lesson and went to the small stack of newspapers on top of the garbage bin. She quickly checked through them. After all this time, she didn’t expect to see anything, but she felt better after she looked.
“Coffee or hot chocolate?” Carmen asked Rose.
Rose preferred coffee, but she wanted to be able to sleep later. “Chocolate. Thanks.” She joined her daughter at the counter. She curled her cold fingers around the warm cup.
Carmen put a bag of day-olds beside Rose.
“Muffins and donuts tonight,” Carmen told her.
“You are a life saver.”
“It’s getting colder out,” said Carmen.
“We’re fine,” Rose said.
Carmen left them to take care of a new customer. They finished drinking their hot chocolate, and then Rose got the key to the women’s washroom.
“It’s too cold to wash my hair tonight,” Hazel said.
Rose almost gave in to her, but she didn’t know when their next chance to get clean would be. “We’re both washing our hair,” she said.
They both had short hair, although Rose would need a cut soon. It had been ages since she had been to the hairdresser’s.
Hazel fussed, but she bent her head over the small bathroom sink. Rose ran water over Hazel’s hair and added hand soap from the soap dispenser. She worked it into a lather, rinsed, then tried to get most of the water out with paper towels.
She washed her own hair, then the two of them did their best to wash the rest of themselves with soapy paper towels.
“My boss is cutting back my hours,” Carmen said, as Rose and Hazel stopped by the counter to say goodbye. “He’s talking about putting me on the day shift.”
Rose was not happy to hear that. No Carmen meant no more free hot chocolate and donuts. Even worse, it meant no safe place to wash, and no regular way of checking the newspapers.
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” Rose said.
“Me, too,” said Carmen. “I can’t pay my bills if I work less hours. I’ll have to find another job.”
Rose and Hazel said goodbye. They left the comfort of the warm donut shop and headed back out into the chilly, dark night.