Behind a Smile

C6 - Getting priorities straight

As soon as he had gotten back to the apartment, he had told his carers about his situation with the homeless shelter, to which they reacted very enthusiastically. So of course, it was no problem for him to go to the homeless shelter the following day to help. They even offered to see if they could help him, but he told them he'd rather not, have a sense of normal for a bit. They didn't blame him.

So that's where he stood, the following day. He stood in front of the door to the homeless shelter when he saw one of the regulars approaching. It was a mother and her child and due to a relative with influence at the government thwarting them, they were living on the streets. Peter always made sure to give them a generous amount of food. He tried to give everyone enough food, but there were a few people he knew that really needed it, such as children and teens, so he tried to help out where he could. As long as there was enough for everybody, he didn't feel guilty about it.

"Hey Ami, how are you and my favorite dinosaur doing?" Peter asks, holding open the door to let them in.

Ami looked up and smiled. "Hey Peter, we didn't see you yesterday. Everything alright?"

Peter's smile faltered ever so slightly before regaining itself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Family emergency. I'm here now to make up for it though!" He looked out into the street whether he saw anyone else approaching but he didn't and stepped inside with them, letting go of the door.

"There you are, Pete! Can you catch up with Ami and Ay Ay while manning that stove over there?" Abu asked and Peter nodded. "Good to see you, kiddo." Abu ruffled Peter's hair and ran off to solve an issue.

Peter walked over to the grill, on it was a large pot of potatoes, probably almost ready for mashing seeing as it was almost time to start handing out the food. "Any luck finding housing?" He asks Ami.

Ami sighs and sets down a struggling toddler. "Not really, most of the shelters are either government-controlled or full. But I have put my name here and there and I just keep going back every day or two, hoping that something opens up." Peter nods his head in understanding. She didn't deserve this. No one did but Ami... Ami did the right thing and wasn't believed and now she had an entire family against her, with people in high places.

"Well, I'll keep an eye out as well, the sooner you get back on your feet the better. Meanwhile, you can always stay here." Peter responded. Ami responded with a nod while playing with Ayush's hair. "Hey Ay Ay, you haven't been terrorizing people, right?" The toddler responded with a playful growl and a swipe of his hands like he was clawing at Peter's arm. It was just the fingertips that touched the skin though, he couldn't injure Peter even on accident. "Alright then, let's see if we can get some food in you. Gotta grow to become a big strong dinosaur. One who can help his mother when she asks. You want that, right?" Peter asks and points at Ayush questioningly. He responds with a smile and Peter goes in for a high five which Ayush happily accepts.

Meanwhile, Peter has started mashing the potatoes and more and more people have started coming into the shelter. Abu had joined them again and was instructing the volunteers. A line was starting to form so they could get food as soon as it was ready to be handed out. Ami and Ayush went to the back of the line, still early enough so there was definitely food over, but they were not the first in line. Peter mashed and mashed and mashed and finally it was done for serving.

Lightly bantering with the people coming by his station, Peter served the mashed potatoes. It wasn't a very busy day, one of the ones where they might have some food leftover. It gave Peter a double feeling, fewer people at the shelter meant they didn't have to turn people away, fewer people were in need of their services. But it also meant that food might go to waste or people were out there, unaware of the services or feeling like they might not be worthy of them. But it wasn't like he was wishing for more people, but he knew that there were still people out there who needed the help but weren't receiving it.