Page 5 of Generation Lost

Gaspar watched as his mother and father spoke to each of the individuals. It didn’t matter that they were dirty and smelled. They held their hands, hugged them, helped them through the door, and showed them the way to the group showers.

“You didn’t lie,” said the old woman. “You’re really going to help us. I can’t thank you enough.”

“I try to never lie to a lady,” smiled Angel. “My wife would be pretty angry with me if I did. You go get cleaned up, and we’ll get the food ready for y’all. Mama Irene and the other wives have brought in some clean clothing for everyone. We’ll be here when you’re done.”

They watched as the people were led to the shower rooms, baskets of shower gel, shampoo, and other things handed to each one with a clean sweat suit and undergarments. For those who needed help, a man or woman would accompany them into the showers to be sure they were safe and didn’t fall. It was a lesson for all in humility and understanding that aging for others didn’t look anything like aging at Belle Fleur.

“What a fucking mess,” mumbled Nine. “How in the hell did all of this happen?”

“We’re not sure,” said Miller. “We found her on the verge of charges for stealing food for the fourth time and decided to speak with her. Damn glad we did. She didn’t say much other than they were all from the same neighborhood and had been friends for years.”

“That’s not worrisome, is it?”

“This makes me so grateful that we’re all here together. Mama and Pops sure knew what they were doing when they put all this together.”

Slowly, one by one, they began to emerge from the showers. They looked like different people, clean, hair combed, and their clothes unmarked. The dirty items were placed in one large bin where they would be washed and redistributed.

As they took their seats, they were greeted with trays of food on the table. Meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, salads, and fresh bread varieties. Iced tea, water, and other beverages were offered. At first, they were timid about taking anything from the trays, but when Nine sat down, smiling at them, and filled his plate, the other men did the same, immediately putting them all at ease.

“This is delicious,” said Otto. “I’ve never tasted anything so good in all my life.”

“Thank you,” nodded Irene. “We love to cook ‘round here. And we love to see folks enjoy our cookin’.”

“Is there any way we could get medication for those that need it? Some have been without it for too long,” said Annie.

“Ma’am, what’s your name?” asked Gaspar.

“Annie, and that’s my friend, Sarabeth,” she said, pointing across the table.

“I’m Gaspar. Gaspar Robicheaux and most of these men are related to me in one way or another. That’s my mama and pops, Matthew and Irene Robicheaux. We can get anything you need here. Who is sick?”

“All of us in some way,” she said, looking at the table. “High blood pressure, diabetes, pulmonary disease, all of it.”

Gaspar looked toward Wilson and Doc who nodded, standing at the end of the table.

“We’ll take a look at you one at a time,” said Doc. “We’re both former medics but also RNs. We’ve got one of our doctors coming over from the hospital as well. We’ll take care of whatever it is you folks need.”

She watched the two huge men as they gently took each person to a private, screened space and did an examination on them. Other than a few bug bites, scratches, and one case of head lice, they were all doing relatively well.

When Riley arrived, she did a thorough examination of each of the people, then prescribed their medications, which Cruz filled at their hospital pharmacy with Suzette and then brought to the lodge.

“Do you feel like telling us what happened?” asked Ian.

“Yes, sorry. We’re all just so grateful to be warm and dry. I think we’re sleepy and full,” she smiled.

“Take your time,” said Ghost. “Once we know what happened to all of you, we can make a plan to help, and then you can get some much-needed rest.”

“We all lived in the same neighborhood. It was small, just forty or forty-five homes, but we all bought around the same time and have lived there for years. A couple of years ago, we noticed that all of our mortgages were suddenly being sold to another mortgage company. That’s not strange, really, but it was strange that it was the same one. Since we all talk and share information, we also knew that they’d been encouraging us to switch insurance providers because it was cheaper.”

“All of you?” frowned Ian.

“Yes. We know now that it was stupid. Ellen and Jim were sent their renewal documents a few months back. It was a hundred and eleven pages of gibberish. They, um, their home was going to be foreclosed on, and so they decided to take matters into their own hands. There was a fire.”

“Ah, I see,” nodded Ghost. “And did the insurance company pay?”

“Twelve hundred dollars,” said Sarabeth. “The new plan didn’t pay for flooding, natural disasters, fires, almost nothing. They moved in with neighbors, and then the neighbors were foreclosed. It was like a domino effect.”

“Who is this mortgage and insurance company?” asked Ian.

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