Bury the Bishop by Kate Gallison

Author:Kate Gallison [Gallison, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: a Mother Lavinia Grey mystery
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1995-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The housing authority offices were in a moribund shopping center on the outskirts of the county seat. At least it was easy to park. The glass door bore a decal of the great seal of the county and led to a mean, grimy little waiting room, where five adults and two children waited in attitudes of despair. A receptionist controlled the traffic flow of the needy. She greeted Mother Grey with the cheerful, confident demeanor of one in the position to give or withhold favors of life and death.

“I need to talk to someone about getting assistance for the homeless in Fishersville,” Mother Grey told her.

“Anybody in particular?”

“Large numbers of people, families with children, are living in cars on Reeker’s Hill. I want to know what can be done for them.”

“For that you’ll have to go to Trenton and take it up with your legislator. We aren’t authorized or staffed to do outreach here.”

“All right. There is one particular family, a mother and her two children. They were burned out of their apartment last night.”

“Sign here and have a seat,” the receptionist said, indicating a clipboard with a sheet of lined paper. “Someone will see you shortly.” There were six other names on the sheet; two had been crossed off. Mother Grey signed her full professional title for what it was worth and had a seat, upholstered crudely in cold orange plastic with poking springs.

People continued to come in, many with appointments, until there were no more places to sit. Babies played on the dirty floor. Mother Grey got up and gave her place to a pregnant woman. As they waited Mother Grey heard the receptionist field no fewer than ten telephone calls, each one more desperate than the last.

She said things like, “No, I’m afraid we aren’t set up to handle emergency housing. If you’ll come down and fill out an application, we can... I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am, have you spoken to the police about it? If he did that to you, they should be able to... Yes, I agree, you ought to get another place. Our waiting list averages two years. …I’m sorry you feel that way. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you.” And so it went.

At intervals of a half-hour or so, names were called. People went in but they never came out, adding to the sense of mysterious and terrible adventure that accompanied encounters with the bureaucracy. It wasn’t like a movie, where you could read the faces of the people who had experienced it already. Was it good? Were you satisfied with the outcome? By the time she actually got to see Myra Stillwater, a pale woman with strange plucked and penciled eyebrows that she must have done herself in a bad light, Mother Grey’s hopes of finding assistance for the Kanes were growing dim.

“Sit down, Reverend,” she said. “I think I should tell you at the outset that I can’t do a thing for these people until Mrs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.