Lukas didn’t know what kind of welcome to expect, if any. He’d looked up Hope And Bread, the soup kitchen that he was going to be a slave to for the next couple of months. It was some little hole in the wall place on what could only be a terrible street. Worst of all, he’d had to take public transit to get there since he currently had no vehicle that he was allowed to drive. The bus stopped blocks away from his destination which meant he had to walk through the sea of undesirable humanity to even get to an even more undesirable destination.
As he walked slowly down the sidewalk, he didn’t know if it could get any worse than this. For the next couple of months this place was as good as his home. He couldn’t imagine slaving away, wasting what talent he did have all because he’d slammed back a couple of drinks and been pulled over. He hadn’t even been drunk, damn it. Cough syrup would have set that damned Breathalyzer off. Should they give everyone with a cold a DUI?
The worst of society passed Lukas on the street as he walked by. He was glad he was a big man. At nearly six and a half feet people didn’t normally fuck with him. Even in plain clothes he was intimidating. His non-descript faded jeans, black t-shirt and leather jacket were too hot for the scorching day but it was what he’d wanted to wear. He didn’t have much in his closet that wasn’t a suit.
Hope And Bread, a ridiculous name if he’d ever heard one, was a squat, white stucco building in the middle of a street that looked straight out of an urban dweller’s worst nightmare. Most of the stores were run down. They were punctuated with pawn shops and shady money lenders. Bars on windows were more commonplace than not. Graffiti tags decorated the sides of nearly every business.
Lukas stood facing the building. He couldn’t actually imagine making breakfast, lunch and dinner for some of the people he passed. A good half of them were cracked out. They ambled past with soulless, glazed over eyes. The rest were homeless, bums that were grime infested. They laid passed out in doorways or begging at the side of the street.
Lukas winced. He couldn’t imagine why someone would build a place to actually feed people like this. Wasn’t that just encouraging them to keep going the way they were; living a hopeless life instead of finding the motivation to get sober and get a job so they could have the ability to feed themselves?
He finally forced himself to walk the remaining few paces to the soup kitchen. He paused before touching the front door. The handle was grimy. He shuddered as he pulled it open.
What awaited him inside was worse than jail. The stench of unwashed bodies assaulted him like a hot, putrid wave. Tables lined up in a small open area overflowed with the scourge of society. People shouted, talked loudly, argued while some just sat silently, spooning food into their mouths in a hopeless attempt at getting through another day.
What was Will thinking when he’d given Lukas this purgatory? He wouldn’t put his worst enemy here.
Lukas stood frozen, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. Probably find whoever was in charge and report for duty. The thought was absolutely repulsive. It was one thing to answer to the partners at the firm but he’d become used to taking orders from no one. For the most part they’d given him the freedom to choose his own cases and work them as he saw fit.
Those days were long gone. He no longer even had a firm to call home after he’d quit in a fit of rage. He had to admit that if the tables had been turned, he wouldn’t have given himself another chance. Three DUI’s was three too many for anyone with a high profile.
Thankfully Lukas was saved from having to prostrate himself and beg for duties he wouldn’t want to carry out in any life. An elderly man with stooped shoulders spotted him from across the room. He ambled over quickly, his speed surprising for someone his age.
“Jed.” The man held out a gnarled, age spotted hand. The skin was stretched paper thin over the bones jutting from it. His knuckles were misshapen. His head was mostly bald and also spotted with age but his blue eyes, eyes that seemed too large for his face, were almost youthful. “You must be Mr. Millar. We’ve been expecting you.”
That sounded ominous enough. Lukas swallowed hard and clasped Jed’s hand. “Yes. Lukas is fine.”
“Well Lukas, I have my orders for the day. You’ll be working with me. I take care of maintenance around here.”
“I see.”
“Things have been piling up. We could use a young, able bodied man like yourself to help out. I can’t move like I used to, that’s for sure.”
Lukas barely managed to keep himself from rolling his eyes. The old man seemed to be making every effort to be kind to him. He didn’t deserve to take the brunt of Lukas’ anger. He alone deserved the biting words that were ever on the tip of his tongue. He alone deserved his scorn and disdain.
“I suppose there are worse things in the world than fixing a few things.” Like serving lunch to a bum.
Jed nodded. He never lost the smile that transformed his wrinkled features into something oddly beautiful. “If you follow me to the back, I’ll give you the brushes, gloves and cleaners that you’re going to need. It’s not a pleasant job but someone has to do it.”
“What is that exactly?” Lukas asked warily.
“Cleaning out the bathrooms. Men’s and women’s.” Jed shuddered. “It’s foul alright, but don’t worry. Soon as we get that out of the way we can get down to scrubbing off the tags at the sides of the building. I don’t know what fun young get out of spraying a building that does good work.” Jed didn’t wait for an answer. He ambled off towards the back. Lukas had no choice but to follow.
He took in the small soup kitchen as he stalked down the narrow hall after a man who again surprised him with his speed and agility for someone so bent and gnarled. They passed several closed doors without any writing on them to indicate what they were. The hallway eventually gave way to a large kitchen where several staff wearing white aprons and hair nets buzzed around. Their conversation was cheerful and punctuated with laughter.
Lukas didn’t understand what could possibly be funny or lighthearted about this wretched job. Half of them were probably here for the same reason he was; community service.
“How many full time staff do you have here?” Lukas asked when they finally reached a small storage room of sorts. It was basically just a closet that contained several cleaning products, a mop bucket, scrub brushes, plungers and gloves.
Everything looked old and well used. Lukas shuddered as he pulled on first one yellow glove then the other. Why did I ever have a drink in my entire life? He couldn’t remember feeling such sharp regrets before.
“Oh, well, just our director. Miss Star.”
“Miss Star?” Lukas choked out. What kind of a name is Star?
“Star Schellen. As good and kind a woman as any that ever walked this earth. She started this place six years ago. Every single person who works here is a volunteer.”
Why in the hell would anyone want to volunteer their time in a hell hole like this? “You mean they have community service hours to fill?”
Jed shook his head, grinning all the while. “Nope. We do have a couple people that come to work off tickets or fines every now and then but no one right now. Other than yourself I mean.”
“So let me get this straight.” For once Lukas acted like a gentleman and helped Jed grab the mop bucket and cleaners. “You come here what? Every day, every other day and you scrub toilets and do all the shitty jobs that no one would ever want to do even for pay?”
“That’s pretty much correct. Every morning.” Jed’s blue eyes sparkled with life. “You see son, it’s not the pay that makes this worthwhile. It might not look it but each and every person here has a story to tell. Some, you just have to look harder at than others to hear it. Each person here deserves respect. We don’t know what’s going on with anyone. They’re just people who need feeding. There’s no judgement here.” He ambled off down the hallway again, in the direction of the bathrooms.
Lukas watched him go before he finally snapped himself out of his trance. That was quite a loaded statement sent in his direction. Maybe not loaded. More like pointed. He slowly trailed after Jed, pushing the mop bucket in a gesture of true and utter humiliation. He never thought he’d be reduced to such purgatory and Jed actually chose it.
If Lukas thought he’d been in hell before, he realized he didn’t even know the meaning of the word until he pushed open the door of the men’s washroom.
He nearly gagged at the stench that assaulted him. The stalls were a mess. He was pretty sure that one of them had shit smeared on the walls as well as the floor.
Jed’s gaze met his and the old man shrugged. “It takes some getting used to but you’ll get the hang of it. It’s not all this bad. I do the bathrooms first and get it done and over with. We’re in luck so far. No toilets over flowing. If you find needles, use caution. We have a broom and dustpan and a sharps disposal. You don’t have to touch them. In fact, it’s safer if you don’t.”
Needles. Of course. He was a fool to think bathrooms were actually used for the purpose set out. Apparently, they were just another hide away to get high.
“And you do this by choice?” Lukas couldn’t help but ask the question again.
Jed shrugged. “Since my Clara died a couple years ago I don’t have much more to do with my time. I was lost before I found this place. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning, even if that reason looks like this.”
Lukas had done a lot of shitty things in his life. He’d been screamed at by clients, ex-girlfriends, women he couldn’t ever remember having slept with, women he’d offended, women he couldn’t remember ever meeting. He’d been called all manner of things in his time. He was no stranger to a real tongue lashing and he’d faced it all completely unfazed. He didn’t expect Jed’s quiet statement to get to him, but it did. It cut right through his flesh. For the second time in less than a week, the numbness he’d built around himself was penetrated by a split second of raw emotion.