“Maybe. But Grandma Eleanor wasn’t trying to prove that good people should sacrifice everything.”
“What was she trying to prove?”
“That families deserve a fair chance.”
Ruby thought about this.
“A fair chance isn’t the same as getting everything you want.”
“No.”
“That’s annoying.”
“Extremely.”
The pink eviction notice remained on their refrigerator for three more weeks.
Not because Claire enjoyed looking at it.
Because Ruby had written beneath it:
REMEMBER WHAT STARTED EVERYTHING.
Then, on a rainy Thursday afternoon, Claire came home carrying a white envelope.
Ruby was doing multiplication homework.
Claire put the envelope on the table.
“What’s that?”
“My payment plan.”
Ruby stared.
“Are we staying?”
“We’re staying.”
Ruby jumped from her chair.
Claire barely had time to put down her bag before Ruby hugged her.
The corrected rent account, a temporary assistance grant from the city’s housing stabilization program, and Claire’s new payment arrangement had resolved the immediate eviction problem.
