HOPEFUL HELEN'S LEGACY

HOPEFUL HELEN’S LEGACY

A Short Story 

1.

Helen worked at a second-hand store in the Valley area of LA, a store that was part of a nationwide chain that relied on donated items like clothes, shoes, books, household goods and electronics to sell. Their profits were used for goodwill causes, like finding jobs for handicapped people.

She didn’t make a lot of money working at the store but it was enough to pay the rent of her small apartment above a garage and to buy her groceries. Because she was frugal her basic needs were met. The clothes she wore came from the same store she worked at and consisted of pairs of worn jeans, t-shirts and, for cooler weather, flannel shirts and, when needed, a sweater. 

Helen loved her job and the customers who came into the store and would start a conversation with anyone who came up to the checkout counter. And though a few customers seemed rude she allowed for the possibility that there was stress in their lives and this contributed to their current temperament and she let their remarks go unchallenged. 

When she was not working her sunny disposition never changed and she talked to anyone, including strangers, she met during the six block walk to or from her apartment or to trips to the grocery store or the nearby city park. Helen had experienced her own share of stress, heartache  and hardships, from her abusive, alcoholic step-father who couldn’t hold a job, to growing up having to survive through welfare and, in her late teens, the several boys she dated, boys that had constantly lied to her or cheated on her to others who took advantage of her giving nature. Her own mother, before she was killed in a car wreck, warned her that she was too trusting, too gullible and perhaps she was right. But Helen believed down deep in her soul that most people were actually decent, no matter what religion, what political beliefs, what job they had or what color their skin was. They all seemed to want the same basic things from life: enough food to eat, a place to live, good schools for those with children and a steady job that provided for these things. And she believed there was already too much anguish, hardship, frustration, fear and anger in the world and she refused to create any more of it. Her mission in life, though she was too modest to call it that, was to do what she could to make the lives of others easier. 

She didn’t own or drive a car, have a cell phone, a computer, television or wear makeup simply because such things weren’t important to her. Her only exceptions were an older radio, a luxury to her, because she loved music and her small collection of paperback editions of books she loved. And she had an old touch-tone land line phone she rarely used. Helen was never judgmental of others who had or wanted more than her because this was not a priority to her. What was paramount was being kind to everyone and hoping such kindness was passed on to others. And when she had a little extra money she gave it to those she felt needed it more than she did.

 

2.

She wanted to keep her life as uncomplicated as possible and didn’t like changes in her daily routine. This was suddenly altered when she mentioned to a co-worker that her birthday was coming up soon. Without her knowledge Sarah, the co-worker, bought her a gift card to a local theater with enough on the card to pay for snacks at the concession stand. The gift card was non-refundable because Sarah knew her friend enough to know if she gave Helen cash she would likely give it away. Helen didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings so she gracefully accepted it. 

The day before her birthday the store manger told her to take her special day off, with pay, because she was their customers’ favorite clerk, never called in sick or complained about her hours and was kind to everyone. The embarrassed Helen gave in to the manager’s decision after she convinced her she had rightfully earned the day off. 

3.

On the morning of her 27th. Birthday Helen skipped breakfast because she didn’t want to feel bloated from eating a large bag of popcorn and drinking a large cup of soda. She was a tall, lanky woman with a natural metabolism that keep her this way and she rarely ate more than twice a day and avoided junk food. But having the gift card was one of those rare occasions where she could indulge herself without feeling too guilty.

The theater was a half-mile from her little apartment and she cherished the first part of the walk that took her through her own neighborhood. Most of the homes were single family residences, many built before the early 1970s, and the parents of younger children felt it was safe enough a neighborhood to let their children play together in their front yards or bicycle or skate on the sidewalk. Helen knew a lot of these kids names and loved watching them play tag or hide-and-seek or other games and enjoyed seeing them skate or bicycle on the sidewalk. When she approached the house where Maria lived there were five kids playing soccer in her yard with a child’s size soccer ball. The goals were makeshift and placed on opposite sides of the wide yard. Besides Maria Helen recognized a boy called Beto, another named Ernie and a girl named Lucy. 

Because she had given herself more than enough time to get to the theater before the movie started Helen lingered to watch the children play soccer and it was a joy to see how seriously they were taking the game. Though it was the two boys against three girls, including the one Helen didn’t recognize, these girls were giving the boys competition. When Lucy, the smallest of the children, kicked the ball off the side of her foot it ricocheted off Ernie’s head. He just laughed as he picked up the ball and threw it at her. Lucy ducked and the ball sailed into the street, coming to a stop at the curb on the other side of the street. 

“We’re not supposed to go into the street,” Maria yelled at Beto when he started to retrieve the ball.

“You gonna go snitch to your Momma like a big baby?” Beto teased her as he stepped off the curb.

“I’ll get your ball because nobody told me I couldn’t go into the street,” Helen offered as Beto stepped back on the sidewalk and she patted him on the head.

‘Yes, Momma,” Beto snickered as Helen went to get their soccer ball and the other children laughed at Beto’s reply.

It’s possible Helen didn’t hear the large delivery van rushing down the street, likely going twice the posted 25 MPH speed limit, because of the loud laughter. But she certainly didn’t see it until the split second before it hit her. The children watched in horror as she cried out in muted pain and the van dragged her under it for 20 yards or so before it came to a complete stop.

4.

The notice that appeared in the Obituary Section of the city’s newspaper was brief, showing her employee photo ID and providing Helen’s date of passing. It also stated relatives have not been  contacted yet to notify and the funeral arrangements were pending.

After the city contacted the second-hand store and many tears were shed by the co-workers Sarah offered to visit Mrs. Beck, Helen’s landlady, about acquiring a clean set of clothes and whatever personal items were necessary, including a contact list of Helen’s relatives. On the short drive to Mrs. Beck’s house Sarah tried to formulate a way to break the news of her co-worker’s tragic passing to Mrs. Beck. But when she knocked on Mrs. Beck’s front door she learned the landlady already knew. Everyone on the street knew because local neighborhood news is shared quickly.

Sarah spent over an hour in Helen’s small apartment looking for personal information about her deceased friend and finally found it in a shoe box under the bed, but this box held little in the way of personal information about Helen. It contained two faded photographs of Helen as child, a cast-iron toy sports car, several cartoons cut out of a newspaper Helen had saved because they likely meant something to her, a checkbook from a local bank that hadn’t been used and a Jimmy Carter For President campaign button. This button was puzzling to Sarah because in the years she had known Helen her friend never discussed politics.

What Sarah didn’t find was a will, legally drawn up or handwritten, proof of health insurance  or contact information about relatives.

As she struggled to carry the shoe box and a clean change of clothes down the wooden stairs Mrs. Beck offered to carry half of the clothes to Sarah’s car and, while they were loading them in the trunk, Mrs. Beck told Sarah how kind, sweet and well loved Helen was to the people on their street.

5.

Because no proof of insurance was located the city paid for the burial and it was to be in a section of the local cemetery reserved for such circumstances. Sarah and her co-workers provided the flowers.

The day before Sarah called the Reverend Sofia Douglas, the minister of the nondenominational church she belonged to and asked her if she would conduct the funeral services.   When the Reverend agreed Sarah provided the background to Helen’s life, a least as she knew it, from the years they worked together at the store.

The service was arranged to take place on early Sunday afternoon because the second-hand store was a religious based organization and was closed on Sunday. Besides themselves they figured Mrs. Beck and a few of the other neighbors would attend. But within forty-five minutes at least twenty of Helen’s neighbors showed up, including parents and their children and a few neighbors who were single.

What surprised and puzzled Sarah, her co-workers and Helen’s neighbors was that within fifteen minutes of the when the service was to begin at least a hundred more people had gathered around them. Though of few of their faces seemed familiar to Sarah she silently wondered why so many of these strangers had showed up. Did some read the obituary and mention it to others? Were some there because they though there would be free food offered? She simply didn’t know these strangers were not really strangers to her friend because Helen had touched their lives, some by offering money when they needed it, others by her offering her time to aid them when it seemed necessary, others who she though needed reassuring hugs or a shoulder to lean on when they were going through rough times in their lives. What would have surprised Sarah even more was how the strangers to her knew about the burial services. Did some read the obituary and inform the others through work of mouth? And what would have bewildered Sarah was that some of these strangers just knew to show up for the services as if guided by an ingrained intuition.

With everyone gathered close to the casket before it was lowered into the ground Reverend Douglas chose to alter and improvise and she began:

“Fellow co-workers, neighbors and friends, we a gathered here to honor the life of the late Helen Hoffman, a young woman who’s life on this Earth seemed too brief and yet during her short life she touched the lives of so many people through her kindness and compassion to place the needs of others above her own. She touched the lives of so many, many more that we may ever know, because of her caring nature. 

When people speak of the legacies left by the departed it's usually of the known achievements of athletics, writers and other creative people or a wealthy person leaving some of their money to causes they believe in.

But there are so many legacies not noted by the media, legacies that still live in the memories of those affected by the less publicly acknowledged.

Helen Hoffman's legacy was in her passion to help those she could and her spirit of giving is a cherished legacy.