{"id":168,"date":"2019-04-25T03:05:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T03:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/?p=168"},"modified":"2019-06-01T00:39:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T00:39:47","slug":"a-green-sweater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/?p=168","title":{"rendered":"A Green Sweater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first time I saw her in the store I\nthought this tall thin woman reminded me of someone out of a Jane Austin novel\nby the way she walked as if each step was precisely where they should be. She\ncarried a purse over her left arm and sometimes a green sweater over her\nshoulders. When she spoke, it was in a high lilting I\u2019m-more-important-than-you\ndelicate speech. I had no idea that she was homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would sashay around the art gallery upstairs and sometimes sit in the coffee shop. Oddly, since she began coming in, we noticed items showing up around the store that were not our merchandise. Colorful glass spheres, candle holders, and other expensive looking nick knacks. Several stores nearby reported such things missing from their shops. We later discovered it was she who brought them to the store as if she was decorating her own home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening she came in and looked at the\ngreeting cards. At times she would glance my direction and quickly turn away. She\nnever bought anything, so I watched her closely. Later I did a walk through the\nstore and she was not to be found. I checked to see if any of our nick knacks\nwere missing. They were not. When the store closed, I did a walk through again before\nI counted the cash register money. When I finished the report for the boss, I\nset the alarm and headed home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, the boss told me that the\nalarm had gone off about fifteen minutes after I left for home. I assured him I\nhad done a walk through. When the police arrived, they didn\u2019t find anything. I\nwondered if it was that woman. That night at work I did an in-depth check\nlooking in every nook and cranny for the Jane Austin woman. Sure enough, in a back\nsecluded area of the gallery where the heating and air conditioning systems\nwere, was what appeared to be a nest in the corner. Several water bottles, a\nMcDonald\u2019s sack, and a green sweater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had dealt with a homeless man once\nbefore who wouldn\u2019t leave one night saying this is where he decided to sleep. I\nwarned him that I would call the cops. \u201cCall \u2018em,\u201d he said, and lay his head\nback and closed his eyes. Many times, homeless people will do something that\nwill get them in jail for the night. They call it \u201cGetting two hots and a cot.\u201d\nMeaning two free meals and a place to sleep. Normally, I am polite to the\nhomeless. People are people. But the store had rules and we set an alarm at\nnight. I called the police. They escorted the man out, however, did not arrest\nhim for trespassing. I wondered if he had been the one who had made the nest\nand set off the alarm. But I couldn\u2019t picture him in that green sweater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next Saturday after the alarm had gone off the woman came into the store again. I watched her peruse the greeting cards. Later she got a glass of water and set in the coffee shop. About thirty minutes before closing I noticed she was gone. Travelling upstairs. I found her\u2026 asleep right in the middle of the art gallery’s wooden floor! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kindly woke her and told her that she could not sleep there, and I asked her about her green sweater. She said, \u201cNot mine.\u201d Then she went down stairs and I assumed she left the building. Fifteen minutes later the barista told me someone was in the ladies\u2019 restroom and had been there longer than necessary.  Of course, I knocked on the door to see if she was alright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust a minute,\u201d she said. A minute turned in to another fifteen. I know that sometimes the homeless would use our restrooms to take a \u201csink shower.\u201d But she had been in there way too long. I knocked again and she said, \u201cJust a minute. I\u2019m a lady you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She certainly had her pride and I was obviously not prejudiced, but I was concerned about her sense and sensibility of time. She wouldn’t be persuaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called the police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several policemen arrived and they pounded\non the bathroom door and told her they were the police and she needed to come\nout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust a minute,\u201d she said with a major emphasis\non the word minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pounded again saying they would break\nthe door in if she didn\u2019t come out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly she opened the door and peaked out.\n\u201cI\u2019m a lady. I was doing lady stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They questioned her a bit and she suddenly began talking as if she was British. \u201cAre you from England?\u201d one policeman asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI speak in many accents!\u201d she replied in\nher British tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After much persuasion and argument (in several different accents) she said, \u201cThere are a lot of empty buildings at night and why couldn\u2019t you just let us sleep there?\u201d The police wouldn’t relent. In a huff as if the servants wouldn’t listen to her, she said she would, \u201cNever visit this establishment again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She tossed her head back, and with her\nnose in the air, she stepped precisely where each step should be\u2026 out of the \u201cestablishment.\u201d\nI never saw her again. I\u2019m not certain, but I think we donated her green sweater\nto the homeless shelter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I saw her in the store I thought this tall thin woman reminded me of someone out of a Jane Austin novel by the way she walked as if each step was precisely where they should be. She carried a purse over her left arm and sometimes a green sweater over her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}