Chapter 8 - ONE NIGHT TO BUILD A HOME
Ben stared at the phone.
Mercer saw his face.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That doesn’t look like nothing.”
Ben put the phone away.
“We’ve got a shelter to build.”
“At two in the morning?”
“Animal Control gave me twenty-four hours.”
Lisa looked outside.
“It’s still raining.”
“Less than before.”
Mercer rubbed his face.
“You really are insane.”
Ben picked up a hammer.
“You coming?”
Mercer stared at him.
Then he picked up another hammer.
“Unfortunately.”
They worked through the night.
Ben built the frame beside the rear brick wall, above the lowest point of the alley.
Mercer cut boards.
Lisa found old waterproof tarps in the storage closet.
At three-thirty, Harold appeared.
Nobody said anything when they saw him.
He carried a stack of folded blankets.
Ben looked at him.
Harold shrugged.
“My wife kept too many.”
Ben nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t make a speech.”
“Wasn’t planning one.”
At four, Officer Ruiz returned.
“You people still awake?”
“No,” Ben said. “This is a group hallucination.”
She brought a bag of dry straw and puppy formula.
Ben raised an eyebrow.
“Official city supplies?”
“My personal supplies.”
“Thought this wasn’t your responsibility.”
Ruiz smiled.
“Shut up and build.”
By five, the shelter had walls.
By five-thirty, a roof.
By six, Ben’s hands were blistered and bleeding.
The rain stopped.
The city sky turned pale gray.
Ruby stepped inside the shelter.
She sniffed the straw.
Walked in a circle.
Then another.
The puppies were placed inside one by one.
The smallest one immediately buried his face into a blanket.
Ben sat on the pavement.
He was too tired to stand.
Ruby walked toward him.
She pressed her nose against his shoulder.
Then she rested her head there.
Ben closed his eyes.
“You’re welcome, girl.”
A camera clicked.
Ben opened his eyes.
A woman stood near the mouth of the alley.
One of his regular customers, Samantha Lee.
She had tears in her eyes and her phone raised.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
Ben sighed.
“Please don’t post that.”
Samantha lowered the phone.
“Why?”
“Because this isn’t about me.”
“You built that all night.”
“A lot of people helped.”
“Ben, people should see this.”
“No.”
She studied him.
“Okay.”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
At seven, Ben locked the restaurant and finally went upstairs to his tiny apartment above the kitchen.
He collapsed onto his bed fully dressed.
For the first time all night, everything was quiet.
His phone buzzed.
He ignored it.
Buzzed again.
And again.
Then continuously.
Ben opened one eye.
Thirty-two notifications.
Then sixty.
Then one hundred and fourteen.
He sat up.
Samantha had posted the video anyway.
The caption read:
“While our city slept, this restaurant owner spent the whole night building a home for a homeless mother and her puppies.”
Views: 18,204.
Ben refreshed.
22,917.
Another refresh.
31,006.
“Sam…”
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A woman said, “Mr. Carter? I’m calling from Channel Eight News.”
May you like
Ben closed his eyes.
“Oh, hell.”
