She wasn't OK at all. On the third step she fainted. When she came round she was in a bed in an ambulance or something. The lesbians were with her; one was sitting on a plastic chair by her head and the other had her butt parked on the edge of the bed.
Her head was spinning.
"Be a good girl and close your eyes," the brunette ordered. It was an order but the caring shone through and Allison closed her eyes, curled up and fell asleep.
They watched her as she slept. Ginny had come over when she fainted and went through Allison's hand bag, sort of doing an inventory check. She had explained about her friend who might have been surprised at how nicely she was described after the telling off she had just had.
She was in a cot in the back of the girls' Mercedes Benz Hi Roof van. It was what they did, not wait for prejudiced middle aged ladies to faint in cafes but to provide basic care for their cases who ranged from mothers with young children through to the elderly. Their clients paid very little but there was an active "friends of the girls" Group which supported them financially and they in turn did everything they could on the cheap. In fact a nice coffee once or twice a week was about their only reckless expenditure.
Tina had taken Allison's blood pressure and, in keeping with her pallid complexion it was dangerously low and as well as that she was clearly anaemic. There was no way she was going to be able to fend for herself so that decision was made for her- she would stay with them.
Allison meantime was in a deep sleep so that when they drove her home to their place it felt like when she had been snuggled in with her sisters in the back of their dad's old Chevy on a drive to the batch and she had smiled in her sleep imagining Denise poking her with her elbow because she was taking up too much room.
Their place was a rambling dwelling on the outskirts of town which was leased to them at the princely sum of One Dollar per week. It was called The Haven. As well as being rambling it was also in constant need of repair which the "Friends of..." members did with pleasure. In fact when the Van pulled up four women, in overalls and scarves, whom Allison, had she been awake would immediately have picked as lesbians were working on the bedrooms.
They stopped what they were doing to go and see who the girls had picked up this time. Tina put her finger to her lips as she got out and they backed away a little holding their breath in reverent silence. A real ambulance would have had one of those gurneys with the wheels that drop down so determined and photogenic nurses or paramedics can wheel them to theater holding bottles of saline solution and shouting bewildering vital signs and loved ones can look on anxiously.
The girls, sadly, lacked even a stretcher and so Allison would have to be lifted and that because she looked so sweet fast asleep would most likely mean she would wake up. Tina, ex US Army Nurse was the powerhouse. It was a well practiced routine; Lee folded the bed clothes back then Tina did her lift, brought the weight known as Allison up and into her chest then carried her inside to where ever.
Sure enough as she was lifted the eyes fluttered open and Allison frowned as she tried to work out where she was.
"Take her through to the parlor Sweetie," Deborah who was on the executive of "the friends" and had been on the working bee instructed simply taking control which is what she did.
She knew Allison; their families had had a lot to do with each other when they were girls and even though she hadn't seen her in years she recognized her immediately.
There were only couches in the lounge, four of them in fact on the very good reasoning "who would want to sit on her own."
Allison was lain on a slightly shabby but very comfortable one with her head held up briefly so a fluffy pillow could be slipped on to the arm rest before her head was allowed to settle in.
"Where am I?" she asked trying to get her bearings.
"Allison, it's Debbie. You fainted at the coffee lounge and the girls have brought you back here to The Haven. Your blood pressure was practically non existent you naughty girl and you're anaemic as well. What have you been up to you naughty girl?"
She was nine again and twelve year old Debbie had all the girls organized. Oh she missed that. It was so good to hear that bossy girl's voice again and she beamed with pleasure as she rolled her head over to see her.
It wasn't hard because the bossy girl had parked herself on the couch and taken Allison's hands in hers. She even leaned over and kissed her. Allison kissed her back and wished she wasn't so jolly inhibited. The room was full of women and she had an uneasy feeling they were all L e s b i a n s as well. That meant, she realized, that Debbie was one too.
"We might call it quits for today," Debbie told the rest," Allison sure won't need any banging or your cursing Megan so we'll pack up and head away."
Megan, who adored Debbie, like all the others, poked her tongue at her, It was their little joke- Megan never swore no matter what the provocation. Allison felt her heart sink as the workers got ready to make tracks. She had just met Debbie again after all these years and it would have been so good to have a catch-up with her.
It was how her life ran though and she shrugged in acceptance of the inevitable bad news. In any case Lee was helping her off the couch so she could use the bathroom and she was so nice.
She wasn't Debbie though and Allison still felt numb as she went through to 'use the facilities.' Then the phone rang and one of their regulars needed urgent attention so Tina and Lee had to be on their way. She felt a part of it now and her eyes rimmed as looked with such pride at the two women in their early thirties who the rest of them called the girls and on whom they doted with unconcealed affection. Lee held her on her way back to the parlor.
"We have to go doll, Debbie's going to look after you while we're gone. Don't worry you just need some red meat in you to fatten you up and you'll be good as gold."
Then she kissed her on the cheek and the older lady burst into tears. It was just something one didn't do: allow ones emotions to be on display like that. Yet they were and absolutely no one minded at all.
"Come on through to the kitchen Hon," Debbie called to her and Allison followed the sound of her voice.
Apparently half a dozen ravenous lumberjacks were joining them for dinner she thought as Debbie sliced potatoes to make wedges and thawed three very large steaks commenting "One for me" as she looked pointedly at her. Allison could feel herself blush and at that point in time after a lifetime of denying it she finally accepted she had a crush on Debbie.
She couldn't just sit there and do nothing so she found what she needed in the pantry to make the seasoning for the wedges then made a Diane Sauce for the steaks. The two of them sat together at the small table in the kitchen.
"Eat." Debbie had told her when they sat down.
Allison had never eaten as much food as that in her entire life and when she finished she did feel bloated but she was allowed to talk then so she really didn't notice because she was busy chatting with Debbie. Catching up they decided to call it and had it been possible to put more hours into the day Allison would have done just that.
Her mother, a religious woman had subscribed to the theory that a woman sins before God when she is vain and clearly holding the opinion that one is pretty or beautiful is the sin of vanity. Now beauty might well be in the eye of the beholder but how close one is to that state can be told truthfully or dishonestly and, no doubt for her daughter's moral well being, that lady chose to tell her that she was of no more than average looks so could count herself lucky if a presentable suitor would give her a second glance.
In fact she was a beauty but so beaten up that she thought of herself as this merely average girl and accepted the role of minding her parents as they grew old firstly because she loved them and second because she felt she had no other options.
Now Debbie, who had always thought Allison to be a stunner, was sitting with her after all these years. She had hated Allison's mother because of the mind games she had played with her and had little time for the father knowing they had conned her into being a free care giver for it was unthinkable that the girl should expect to be paid for doing her duty towards her parents.
Allison had Ginny from her school days as a friend and that was all. She was desperately lonely but too unsure of herself to strike up friendships and so had become catty about strangers creating reasons why she wouldn't want to get to know them.
