Kit-Kat

I have some homeless friends. I guess I can't call them friends they are more like acquaintances. Except for one woman, Katheryn or Kit-Kat. I believe she is mentally ill, and I'm not sure how we became friends, except to say that it seems like God keeps putting her in my path. Last week I noticed I hadn't seen her around for awhile. I asked some of her friends where she was, and they told me she wasn't doing too well. It turns out Kit-Kat was in the hospital. Medicare had sent out new cards in April. Since KK didn't have an address she had no card, which meant she couldn't get her heart medication.

Last Friday I saw her, lying in a small brick enclave where they keep garbage. I walked up to her and noticed her fingertips were blue and she looked terrible. She told me she had been in the hospital, that she has congestive heart failure, and she was released without any medication. (The hospital was nice enough to give her a Taxi ride to the local mall, a prescription list, and a list of shelters she could call....) She had no money to call and couldn't stand up. I took her prescription to the pharmacy to be filled and started calling the shelters on the list. They were full and some shelters refuse to take the sick. I called a christian shelter, the manager was gone and they had shut the doors for the night (4pm) the lady told me please call back tomorrow...

Meanwhile at the pharmacy they inform me that they can't fill KK's prescription because she needs a new card. They give me an 800# and tell me that to get a new card KK will need to give the agency her social security number. Frustrated I went back out to KK and someone had given her water and cookies while I was gone. She's poured the water over her head, asks me if I want some cookies, I look at her and I think are her lips turning blue???

I tell her I need her social security number and the problem with her card. Then she remembers the hospital told her to call. So long story short I made the call, and the agency is closed for the weekend...

I go back to KK and yes her lips are turning a tad blue. I tell her I want to call 911, but she says no. They'll just get mad at her, make her wait in the waiting room and she doesn't want to go back. Just then it hits me what would Jesus do? Do I take her in my home? Will my husband kill me if I do? (I'm thinking yes he would definitely not be happy...) Yet I can't leave her on the street so I start praying and across the lot I see her friend Ricky.

I run to him and bring him over to KK. She is so happy to see him and tells him to get a shopping cart so he can take her home. (Home is a bush with blankets under it...) I tell them both I'm worried and I want to call 911. Then KK said no, "if I die I don't want to be alone I can die with my friends." I stood there dumbfounded as Ricky loaded her into a shopping cart and wheeled her home.

I still feel unsettled about all of this.