Chapter 18

      Sam walked towards the three guys she recognized drinking on the curb. There was Charlie, an old drunk with white hair that has started spending more and more nights at the shelter and less nights getting drunk. There was the young drunk DJ that Coley talked with quite a bit, and Larry the old black man who was in and out of the shelter depending on his mood. Sam had known Larry for years. In the boy’s gaiety and wine drinking frenzy they looked around and saw Sam.

      “Hey Sam, how’s everything going?” DJ said just as he took a long swig out of his wine bottle.

      The other two guys about the same time lifted their wine bottles towards her, “Hey Sam!”

      She sat down on the curb beside Charlie who was on the end. “Hey guys, everything okay?”

      Charlie looked over at Sam hoisting his bottle, “Sam, we really appreciate all you did tonight. I’m not just talking about the great presents you gave us. I’m talking about those kids. You made a lot of kids happy tonight, and for that, a toast. Here, have a swig for old times’ sake. You’ll be able to buy the good whiskey now, you won’t have to drink this old rot gut stuff anymore. But go ahead, take a swig.”

      Sam took the bottle, “Thanks Charlie.” She then belted back a good long drink, and it felt good. She gave the bottle back to Charlie who also took a long hard swig out of it.

      DJ and Larry both said thanks to Sam for their great presents and offered her a drink out of their bottle. It would be rude to refuse so she took long swigs out of both bottles.

      The four of them were sitting there celebrating Christmas, laughing, telling old stories, and feeling fantastic. The fog was turning to a light mist. Then, there were some snowflakes. Snow, in Fort Worth, unbelievable. The snowflakes increased and the group raised their bottles to this amazing development to top off a perfect Christmas.

      After a while Sam was feeling good and decided it was time to get some rest. Tonight, she was going to get the kind of sleep normal people get, in coziness and security. It was time to head back to The Worthington. The entire group was feeling great and normally wouldn’t be able to get into the shelter, but Sam had made arrangements with Brad to let these guys in no matter what. Especially since the weather was turning bad. She knew it was time to leave when the other three started singing. When the singing starts the party’s over. As a matter of fact, DJ started singing the old Monday Night Football song, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

      When DJ reached the part about, “All good things must come to an end,” Sam got up and started walking down Lancaster Street towards the downtown area. She was walking the route she’d walked so many times before as a homeless person with nowhere else to go.

      Larry yelled, “Hey Sam, you don’t have to walk anymore, you got a car. Come on, it’s snowing!”

      Sam turned around and yelled back, “I’d rather walk. I just want to enjoy the snow. I’ll pick the car up tomorrow, see y’all later.”

      As she began walking down Lancaster, still in her Santa suit, Charlie said, “There are going to be some shocked people tonight. They’ll be driving downtown in the snow and see Santa Claus walking towards the hotel.”

            The three guys sat there continuing to drink wine watching Sam walk down Lancaster into the increasing snow. Why would she walk when he could drive in style? As they sat there now gulping the last of the wine Brad walked up behind them, “Hey, what are you guys doing?”

      Charlie turned around quickly, “Hey Brad, Sam left and decided to walk back to her hotel. I’m not real sure how safe it is, but that’s her walking down Lancaster.”

      The guys were in a jovial mood until they noticed Sam stop and turn down an alley. They couldn’t imagine why she would do that. Everyone was trying to see what she was doing. The snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see her. The guys started to get concerned. Brad looked at the three winos finishing off their stash, “Come on guys, let’s get inside, it’s snowing!”

      The three guys stood up and started to follow Brad towards the shelter when they all heard a noise. It was a strange noise. All four men couldn’t see Sam at this point. She was gone. It was hard to tell what was going on with all the snow.  They all looked at each other not knowing what to do. There was some kind of yelling as all four peered down the street trying to see what’s going on. Then Larry said, “Are they laughing? Do you hear laughing?”

      DJ said, “Do you think something’s wrong?”