Eyes Of Danger by M. Garnet

Kathy, that is real sweet of you, but I am just not the office type. In fact, I was just thinking of hitting the road again. I think I was born too late. I was meant to be a hippy.” I ended this with a big laugh and finished stacking the pans.
    “Hey, honey, I didn’t mean to intrude. I don’t think you understand about FEMA. It is not like Government offices. It isn’t like most offices—period. To tell you the truth, we are mostly a lot of bleeding hearts. We are what most people would call kooks. I kind of thought you would fit in with the group. In fact, I went ahead and filled in the application. I got your info from the office here.”
    I dropped a pan and turned to her. My mind was working in all directions. I just was not getting anywhere fast. “Kathy what have you done?”
    “Michelle, don’t look at me like that. It isn’t that important. They would like to hire you. We got a request from Washington right away. However, you won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t want it. I just thought I was helping.”
    Kathy looked like she was going to cry. Of course she just wanted to help.
    I took a deep breath and tried to think. “Kathy, when did you put in a request for me?”
    Kathy seemed confused. “Honey, don’t worry. I was just trying to help. I have gotten a couple of other homeless people jobs. I didn’t mean to push.”
    “Kathy, when did you get the reply from Washington?”
    Kathy took a step back and I realized I had raised my voice. I tried to calm down as I put away the last pan. “Kathy, I’m sorry, I just want to know how much time I have to make up my mind.” I gave her a weak smile.
    She returned my smile and shook her head. “You take all the time you need. Let me see, I think it was only a couple of days ago that we got the request from Washington. I will say I was surprised that they were interested. Later, though, they sent through another request for us to hire four more people and approved more funds. See, it has nothing to do with you at all.”
    There was such a proud look on Kathy’s face, I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble.
    I stood trying to think. I had to get out right away. I couldn’t take a chance that I had been noticed by one of the alphabet groups in Washington. Maybe I had been lucky and Kathy was right. It probably didn’t have anything to do with me. Then again, maybe elephants fly. “Let me think about it, Kathy, and thanks. Perhaps I should consider your offer. It would be a more stable life for a while.”
    Kathy smiled. She seemed relieved as she helped me finish cleaning up the kitchen. I made my way to my cubbyhole. As an employee, we were given small rooms. An outside wall had enclosed cubbyhole units that had ten-foot high walls put up to separate each unit. Since the ceiling was at least thirty feet, the rooms were open above, but had doors. They contained one small cot with a couple of shelves. We could sleep and change in private even if it wouldn’t take much to push into any of these small enclosures.
    I put my cash inside my sock, pushing it down so that it was inside my shoe. I put as much as possible into my backpack. I just sat on my cot until lights out. I knew that the back door was locked, but that you could go out and it would lock behind you. This was my goodbye. I didn’t want to say it face to face with anyone.
    I quietly opened the back door only enough to let me pass. I slowly closed it, checking to make sure it had locked. I examined what I could see in the dark. I headed for the fence that separated the small yard at the back of the building. I went through the fence into the alley that I was totally familiar with by this time. I took the short way to the street. I was almost there when I saw two men turn slowly into the alley and then stop. I stopped also, beginning to back up. I moved over to the back of the church, but knew I couldn’t get back into the door. I turned and without any thought, started running.
    I had