Chapter 1 - Indoors!

NOTE:  Sim Day 1 - No rolls on the first day!





The counselor gave Kaitlin 4 tickets on the next bus to Twinbrook and promised no one would know where they went. Kaitlin, shaking, took the woman’s charity.

When they walked out of her office, Reese grabbed up Maddy and dragged Ben over to where his mother was still thanking the counselor. Dr. Gentry hugged her and wished them well. They gathered up their things and went to the bus stop.

* * * 

After a day long journey the foursome arrived in Twinbrook tired but ready to start over. Kaitlin feared they may wind up sleeping in the park in their sleeping bags. Sort of like a camp out she would tell the kids. But she hoped she would be able to find a place to spend the night indoors.

They grabbed a cab from the bus station to town. The cab dropped them off close to the grocery store. Food was the first priority followed immediately by a place to stay.



There was a library next to the grocery store so she took the kids inside and asked her little man - Reese - to watch over Ben and Maddy while she ran and got some food. Ben quickly found a toy box and Reese the children's book section. He sat down with Maddy and began to read to her while Ben happily played with the new-to-him toys.

Kaitlin quietly slipped out while the younger kids were distracted. She was afraid they may get anxious if they saw her leave since they were in a strange place. She knew Ben was aware of what was going on but internalizing it. Reese was doing his best to be a father to the younger kids. She felt so bad for him having to grow up too quickly.

As she paid for her groceries, she asked the clerk if they knew of any job openings and cheap apartments. She told her that the proprietor of Grady's Junk Shop was looking for someone to help take care of the place while he was out.

Kaitlin went to the library and gathered up her kiddos and they went straight to Grady's. The man that she had to meet with was an obnoxious flirt. He struck her as a creepy womanizer and it made chills run up her spine. But if it meant her kids had a place to sleep tonight, then she would put up with a little flirting. Better than a black eye or broken arm.

When he saw her kids he stopped flirting and offered to let them stay as long as they kept the place cleaned up. No pay, but a place to stay in exchange for her 'services' - which she hoped meant cleaning services only.

He also told her she could also have anything that she could scavenge out of the junk piles since he wasn't giving her a salary.

While she was making arrangements with the proprietor, her Reese was chatting up a very cute girl. Why she was in a junkyard, Kaitlin had no idea.

"My name is Reese Murdock. We just moved here and my mom is getting a job here. So, what's a pretty girl like you doing in a junkyard?" he asked trying to be smooth.

"Hi Reese," she said as she batted her eyes at him, "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Jade Greenwood. My hobby is sculpting and this is a great place to pick up scrap metal."

Kaitlin left Reese to his flirting and put Maddy in her walker and made sure Ben was okay then she went outside and checked out the place.

She saw something sticking out of the dumpster and decided to take a look. She found some pretty good things that she figured she could sell or maybe keep and refurbish them once they found their own place. She figured the creepster wouldn't mind her stashing them here for awhile.

She heard what Jade said about scrap metal and figured if she could find some then she could sell it so they would have food money.

This job might not be so bad after all. At least they weren't sneaking around sleeping in the park and she couldn't be more under the radar. Newt wouldn't be able to find them. She would just have to make sure the boys kept up with their studies. She couldn't send them to school. The social workers would take them away. But just because they weren't going to school didn't mean they weren't going to study. They had their laptops and tablets and she had picked up a couple of books while she was out.

Kaitlin was filthy after climbing around the dumpster and digging in the junk piles and the boys were getting hungry. They headed to the gym where they could sneak showers then headed to the park for hot dogs.

When they got back to the shop, they were exhausted and laid out their sleeping bags. At least they were indoors thought Kaitlin. She really thought it might be outdoors. Kaitlin owed a debt to the creepster. She just hoped she was paying it off well enough with the upkeep she and her kids were doing.

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