Pier Lights by Ella M. Kaye Page A

safe in had surfaced
within ten miles. Soon she would not only not have an apartment or
a job, she also wouldn’t have her starfish, her pans, her dishes.
No, she would have her starfish. Even if she had to shove the box
with her crutches and sit down on the stairs and lower it one step
at a time, she would have her starfish, karma be damned. She
supposed she could do them all that way.
    Except she was exhausted and she was almost
out of time.
    Oh Dio, come find me. I could use a black
knight about now.
    With a deep breath, she got a grip on
herself and decided to use her brain, to get out of her fantasy
world. She was smart. She could do this.
    The taxi driver.
    Caroline dove for her handbag and dug
through to find his card. He’d said to call if she needed help. She
had to hope he was as safe as he said. At this point, she had few
options.
    A woman answered. Lina hesitated, then asked
if he was there, reading the name. The woman corrected her
pronunciation.
    “I’m sorry. I ... I’m trying to move out of
my place and ... I’m packed but I can’t get my things downstairs
and he said I should call if I needed help, that it would be safe
because his wife would ... would...
    “Hit him over the head with an iron
skillet?”
    “Yes. That’s what he said. If he even
thought of looking at another woman, which he didn’t. I have a bad
foot. He saw me at the pier, leaving the pier, about to walk home,
limp home, and he helped me a lot. I just ... I have to be out
before nightfall and I don’t have...”
    “Give me your address.” The woman took it,
or at least Lina hoped she really did. “We’ll be there in a
few.”
    “We?”
    “Sounds like you need more than brute
strength. Hang tight.” The phone clicked.
    Lina nearly cried, but she wouldn’t. She
hoped she hadn’t just set herself up for another trap. She could
open the door, leave it open, and...
    Hell, let the damned Fates do as they would.
She was too tired to fight it.
    Leaning back on the stripped bed against the
headboard that she’d cleaned with disinfectant before she used it,
Lina let her eyes close. She hadn’t been so tired since ... since
her early days of dance school.
    The knock jolted her awake. She looked out
the door with the chain still latched. The taxi driver. He said his
wife was there, also, and gave someone a nod. The woman stuck her
face where Caroline could see it and offered a hand through the
door.
    “Need help, child?”
    Caroline nearly cried again. She just
nodded.
    “Well, open the door then.”
    Obeying as though she was the woman’s child,
Lina closed it enough to unlatch it and opened it again. And she
explained again. The woman shook her head. “You’re not the first
it’s happened to, love. Don’t worry about her and her kind.” Her
strong hand clasped one of Lina’s. “Things have a way of working
out, they do. Is that all you have?” She looked at the five
boxes.
    “The rest is in my car. I know. I should
have been able to...”
    “On those things?” The woman rolled her
eyes. “Nonsense. Harry, grab those and bring them down. I’ll walk
with ... what did you say your name was?”
    “Caroline.”
    “Caroline. What a beautiful name. That’s
Harry who you already met. I’m Nelda. We’ll get you where you’re
going. I do spose you’re not going too far?”
    “I ... hopefully within ten miles or so but
right now just to my car. I’ll ... have to find a hotel or...”
    “No hotels available tonight, love. Big
meeting of some kind in town. Everything’s full. You mean you have
no place in mind to go?”
    “I ... no. I’ve been looking since
yesterday. It wasn’t enough time.”
    “Mean old biddy, doing such a thing to a
girl, a girl with a lame foot, no less. She’ll pay her due when
it’s time. You’ll stay with us tonight. All we’ve got’s an old
couch if that’ll work...”
    “Oh I can’t ask you...”
    “No askin’ involved. Come. Harry, move it
along.”
    Since she had no other