It looked like a normal apartment on the outskirts of the city. Nothing too rundown, yet not the best, or even second best. That was the place I had stayed in for twelve years of my life. I didn’t live. I had stayed there. It was neither a home nor the place I consider where I grew up. It was just that. A place. Nothing less, nothing more. The place that taught me, yet I wasn’t raised. I was taught what I was. I was taught what I am going to be. I wasn’t taught how to be something else.
My story isn’t a heartfelt tale, but it is the truth. Truth that has been ignored by those who don’t believe it. But I hope you will listen to it even if you think it is nothing more than a tale. A tale of those less fortunate.
This is my story. My name is Laura Rowina Williamson. This is what occurred to me at this place I stayed when I was only sixteen years old. This is my tale.
It was a cold winter’s day when I had come home from school. I had rushed home after the school day was worse than normal. Once again I had been teased about how loud my stomach growled in the middle of class and how wrinkled my clean clothes were. That day, it had only taken me half an hour to get back to the apartment. I climbed up the stairs that lead to the third floor and opened the door and snuck in as fast as I could.
“Laura? You home?” My little sister greeted me from the hallway.
“Yes chibi, I’m home. Tell mom I’ll be in the room.”
“Kay. Oh, oh, you know everything, right?” She asked while nearly bouncing in anticipation.
“I guess,” I sighed at the eagerness of the kindergartener. “What do you want to know?”
“What does pauper mean?”
“Where did you hear that?” I had stiffened up while taking off my boots.
“We were reading a story. Then the boy sitting next to me called me that.”
I had sighed and felt like crying at the innocent face of my darling sister. She knew next to nothing but I knew I wouldn’t be able to have a normal life for her for much longer. We were paupers. “Well, Katherina. A pauper is someone that is poorer than everyone else.”
“Oh. Okay.” Thank God for her tiny attention span.
She walked over to the living room as I went into the shared bedroom. I shivered for a moment as the coldness of the apartment finally sank in past my clothes. It was only slightly warmer inside than outside. I should probably describe the room I shared with Katherina for whoever decides to listen to the story. The room was small, but still the largest in the apartment. A bunkbed was in one corner with my desk right underneath the window in the other. The faced the back of the apartment building. Between the furniture and the few toys that were hand-me-downs from when I was a toddler, there was barely any room to stand or sit.
The average person would be wondering now how or why a group of people would be living in these conditions. Three days after little Katherina was born, my father died in a car accident. We went from being a growing family with steady income to having to sell the house in the suburbs and move to a slightly run-down place on the outskirts. Our mother can’t work more than a few hours a day or else she would collapse. Katherina is still too small and I have only recently been allowed to get minimum wage. We have less than the normal family but our main concern is always the food Katherina needs to focus in school. I get free lunch at school and smuggle food home every now and then, but it can’t feed three people. The government only helps us with some donated food and free child care when mother has to work later than normal. The neighbor next door says the government doesn’t care about a few invisible people on the outskirts of towns that barely pay the taxes they use to “stuff their gut”.
The neighbor is the same as us. He was in an accident that left him unable to use his left leg and his left arm stops working sometimes. He lives with three other people so they can split the rent and still be able to buy food. He never knew the three other people until they moved in with him. One working student who is trying to raise money for college, and a retired woman share one room, while our neighbor and a runaway, a year older than myself, share the other. They take care of my little sister when the daycare is closed or when we both get lonely. The working student, Marea, is my best friend along with the runaway, Alexander. They are both older than me, but know what I go through so they help me out as much as they can. They say I am much smarter than they are and hope I could get a higher education. They are the family I gained when I lost my father.
“Laura! Come into the living room!”
“I’m coming!” I tossed my backpack onto the top bunk and slung my jacket over one rung on the ladder and walked back out of my room to join my mother in the main ‘living room’. I saw my mother braiding Katherina’s hair as the small television we owned was turned to the news. A few plastic bags were on the coffee table in between the couch and the tv stand. “What is it?”
“I got some more food for us. Can you check to see how long it will last us with what I got last week?”
“Mom, I told you that we should be saving money. A computer would be unbelievably useful at this point in highschool and for finding jobs. I don’t always want to use Marea’s.”
“I got it from the local church. They don’t know we’re not religious,” she didn’t break the pattern in the braid or even look up at me.
I groaned and went to the plastic bags leaning on each other on the table. It was all the normal things you get from donations. Mostly really cheap and knockoffs. I started carrying the dry food into the kitchen that branches off from the entrance. Seeing that mother was in a relatively good mood, I thought it was the time to give her the ‘good’ news I received that day in school. “Mom. The teacher called me in today.” I took a deep breath and continued. “He said my grades were good enough that I could apply for a private university.” Here it comes.
“What! Do you know how much that costs? Are you absolutely insane?” I saw Katherina duck behind me and escape into the room we shared.
“Have you even looked at the grades I’ve been getting? My GPA is 4.0! Perfect all the way through! Marea and Alexander both think I could get into a great university. Financial aid is always an option!” I pulled out the paper I have stuffed into my pocket at school. “My teacher told me to give this to you. I’m done with the food. I’ll be going out for my job.”
I ran off before mother could go off on another tirade. I bolted back into my room and grabbed my work bag that held the homework for the next day. I gave Katherina, who was hiding in her bed, a quick hug and rushed back out to the entrance, barely getting my boots on before smalling the door. I slowed down when I got the to the cool air outside and actually tied my boots on. When I turned, I saw my two only friends hanging out on the stairwell conversing in the way they normally did, with Alexander sitting on his perch made by the railing and Marea leaning back in the corner on the railing a foot away from Alexander’s swinging leg. I walked over to them, and by the look on their faces, they had heard the argument. I had planned to walk past them, but Alexander lifted his legs to rest on the opposite stair railing, blocking the stairs completely.
“Come on Alex, I have to get to work. Move your heavy feet!”
“Oye, Lina.” I glared when he used the name he made by combining my first and middle name. “Get that glare off your face. We both know you don’t have to work for another forty minutes. What’s eating you?”
“Nothing. I want to get to work early.”
Marea had picked the wrong time to take a drink from her water bottle and snorted at my white lie. A second later, she was holding her hand under her nose as Alexander nearly fell off his perch in laughter. “Laura, we both know you hate getting to work early. Was it the argument about the university you wanted to go to? Wait till she learns it’s in Europe.”
“She won’t let me go because of money! Stupid poverty line. I won’t be able to get out of this slump unless I do something else. She thinks working to the bone will help us. I don’t even have a bloody laptop to get a better job.” I had given up trying to get past and just sat down on the top step, handing Marea a napkin from my bag to keep the water dripping down her nose from hitting her book. “How will I be able to convince her to let me go to the opposite corner of the world and go to a university when she doesn’t know the first thing about higher education.”
“It’s better than just going to high school like Alex and getting a diploma like me.”
Alexander glared at Marea. “Just tell her to get a roommate and share the room with Chibi. It’ll be just like us with the old man.”
I sighed. Marea stayed silent since she also knew how it was with my mother. She didn’t like strangers and hated the idea of letting people she didn’t know having a key to her sanctuary. It was lucky enough that our neighbors are as normal as they are. It was quiet for a few moments as Alexander continued to swing his legs back and forth before swinging himself off his perch. “Let’s go. I’ll walk with you to your job.”
I waved a goodbye to Marea studying in her corner and followed Alexander down the stairs. He often walked me to my job at the cafe since it was better than doing nothing. It is at these times that I can’t tell what he’s thinking since he becomes completely silent, even when I ask him a question. I just follow him as he walks to the cafe. He does look back every now and then to make sure I’m fine. This day however, he walked next to me.
“Why do you have to go to a university?” I was shocked at his question. I had always thought that he wanted me to get some extra education after he dropped out. After all his encouragement and help for all the time he was my next-door neighbor, now he asks why?
“Why would you ask that? You of all people should know that I want to be a translator.”
“Well, it’s because,” he stopped walking and turned to look at me. “We both know this city and can make a living here. Why would you have to go halfway across to ocean just for a piece of paper. It’ll cost a million dollars at the least-.”
I had stopped listening and ran to the cafe. I heard him call for me, but since he was against me wanting to get an education, I didn’t hear him. I thought he always wanted me to succeed. I knew him for years, and he pushed me in every class I took. Never ever made me look back and pushed me forward.
The day was slow at the cafe, yet my mind kept wandering to why Alexander would want me to stay in this stupid city. I was so out of it, that I barely had time to hide as classmates had entered the cafe. I couldn’t risk having them see that I actual work at a cafe. It would just lead to more teasing to the ‘impoverished worker’. Not what I want to deal with for two more years. With that, the day ended with the manager giving me my paycheck and studying on the way back home. It was already eleven, but streetlights and the occasional car lights make reading possible. As I neared the apartment, I saw Marea wasn’t sitting in her corner and neither was Alexander. I walked slowly up the stairs and stood outside my door for a minute.
Just as I was about to head in, a second voice that wasn’t Katherina’s or my mother’s talked talking. I pressed my ear closer to the door even as the coldness of the door was biting and stun my ear.
“Madam, you do know we are your daughter’s good friends.” That was Marea’s voice.
“She talks of you two often. I thank you for all that you have done for this family. It’s helpful.” Two? That means-.
“We wish to talk with you on Laura’s education. I know she told you this today, but she has a chance at this.” He used my real name! Not the ‘Lina’ name.
“If you are talking about the University in Europe, you should know that I absolutely can’t let her go! She is the breadwinner. You should understand this, you of all people!” I heard the tiny running footsteps of Katherina going to her room. I couldn’t hear what was being said inside since Alexander’s voice had gone all soft. All that I heard was mother’s gasp as she muttered a few words. “You really do?” Was all I was able to catch.
“I would like for her to have the chance we never had. Community college and just a high school diploma doesn’t suit a girl like her. She could be much bigger than any of us. She has a dream and should act on it before it’s too late. The university provides financial support for those like us with grades like she has.” Is this the same person who had questioned me earlier?
“The rent. We won’t have an income and I don’t want to let strangers inside.”
I heard Alexander take a breath as if he was going to his own trial. “Myself and Marea here are willing to move in with you and Katherina. We aren’t afraid of sharing the same room since she works nights and I found a job at the record shop during the day. I feel like it would be the best idea, if you wish to accept it.” He had found a job. I had sunk to my knees while listening in to the conversation. They both really wanted me to carry their dreams for them.
I stood up and started to unlock the door. The voices immediately shushed as I walked in and shed off my boots. I walked into the living room to see my mother sitting on one couch and Marea and Alexander sitting on the other. Katherina had sneaked back in and was watching from behind the corner of the couch.
“Why’s everyone here? I didn’t get the cops called on me.”
My mother stood up and stood in front of me. For once, I saw how the work had aged her. She didn’t look like my mother. “Alexander and Marea talked with me today over the school you want to go to in Europe. I looked at the letter your teacher sent me and with what he said.” The air hung still with the unfinished sentence. “I believe that if you want to become a News Translator, I will let you go to Europe.”
The weight of the burden from the idea of university finally fell off my shoulders and I felt my legs give away. Before I hit the ground, Alexander had caught me in his arms and spun me around. When I could finally see straight again, I saw my mother smiling with that true smile from when dad was still around, I saw Marea looking pleased with herself in her seat, and saw Alexander holding me at his eye level.
“Don’t let me down Lina.” He leaned forward and rested his chin on my forehead. “You better hurry back too. You still have two years until you will have to move.”
My story ends here with my acceptance into the university of my dreams. From poverty to Europe was something that most people believe would never happen. Yet, I survived my stay. I made it through when others said an education would be useless. Poverty is here, in places you never really check. It’s a step in life for everyone, but one some can’t escape. It’s here. Just take a look around and take a minute.
