The older of them was visibly frightened when she told me "I'm Tania Wilson, and this is my sister Daneesha. I turned 18 a couple of days after I graduated high school, and my Dad let me come here as a kind of mixed graduation and birthday present. Daneesha came with me because she graduated middle school, and so that being together, we wouldn't get into any trouble – and we haven't. But we went out and did a lot of shopping, and spent too much money on clothes and things. Now all we have is our train tickets home, enough to get to the train station, and a little more – maybe enough to get something to eat, but that's all. Even if we skipped eating and walked to catch the train" – it was a good five miles, something even I wouldn't have wanted to try with all the stuff I saw piled around them – "we don't have enough to stay here tonight – and this was the cheapest place we could find that Daddy would let us stay. And now we can't even stay here!"
With that, both of them started quietly crying again.
"Why can't you take some of the stuff back to one of the stores you bought it from?" I asked.
"I thought of that, but because we stayed so late shopping tonight, all of them are closed now." Tania told me through her tears. The names on the bags told me they'd done pretty much all of their shopping downtown, where the stores all closed at 6:00, and it was already pushing 7:00.
"Why didn't you pay for your room ahead of time, when you got here?" I asked.
Again, Tania was the one to answer when she said "Mister, this is the first time I – we – have ever gotten to be away from home like this. I just didn't think about it then, and we were having so much fun that I just kept putting it off, and now it's too late. I know I made a mistake, and I'm ready to pay for it. But I was supposed to be responsible for both of us, and now Daneesha has to pay for it, too, and it wasn't her fault, it was mine", which got her crying even harder.
"You don't know anybody here in town? No family, or friends? Anybody?"
Both shook their heads, and I started racking my brain to think of somebody at one of the hotels in town that owed me a favor – and came up blank. Ditto any kind of alternatives – the bus or train station, for the reasons already mentioned, or anyplace else I could think of. I knew that they couldn't just sit in the lobby of anyplace in town, either; even if the staff allowed it, the two of them would be hassled all night by cops, if not drunks and guys trying to pick them up.
I was starting to think that they were seriously screwed when an idea popped into my head – and promptly got thrown out as being even more ridiculous than anything else I'd considered.
But it insisted on coming back, and then got my conscience on it's side, and the two of them promptly commenced to beat the crap out of my good sense. That's how I ended up telling them "I can't think of anything but to let the two of you stay at my place tonight."
Tania promptly looked at me like she thought I was trying to hustle the two of them into bed, and I waved my hands at her as I said "No, it's not like that. My couch unfolds into a bed, which I'd use, and the two of you would stay in my bedroom – which locks from the inside. You'd have a bathroom to yourselves, and once you locked yourselves inside, you wouldn't have to come out until it was time to catch your train home."
Tania still looked pretty uncertain, and I told her "Look, it's the only thing I can think of that would keep you safe and out of jail. I'm not real wild about the idea, myself, so if you don't want to take me up on it, it isn't going to break my heart. The last thing I need is for somebody to think that I'm trolling for teenyboppers to take home, for ANY reason. Bob already told you that you can't stay here, and I'll bet he explained why it would be a bad idea for you to go anyplace else."
Both nodded that he had, looking a little frightened again, and I told them "It's up to you. I've told you where you'll stay, and why you'll be safe. I'm doing this even though everything in my head is telling me it's a bad idea. If you want to talk it over, I can step outside."
The two of them turned to look at each other, and did one of those silent talk things that close family members are good for, before Tania turned back to me and said "I… I guess we'd better accept. If it was just me, I'd stay all night at the train station, but I can't make Daneesha do anything like that."
I nodded, and said "Then the only other thing is to ask if you have any problems with cats. I've got one at home."
To my surprise, both looked mildly pleased before Daneesha told me "No, we have a cat at home. Her name is Miss Kitty."
I smiled and told them "Mine is a boy, and his name is Demosthenes. If you give him half a chance, he'll spend all his time on your lap, purring at you."
Though still visibly nervous, they still managed a smile at my description of Demosthenes. I told them "If you'll start getting your stuff together, I'll tell Bob what's going on."
They stood up as I turned to leave. I found Bob, and told him what solution I'd come up with. He looked at me in surprise, and I explained about my couch and the lock on the bedroom door. I also asked for a favor, which he was willing to grant. Then he came back to his office with me when I asked him to. With him present, I told the girls "I asked Bob to come in here so you know that somebody else knows where you're going, and why. So I'm telling you again, with Bob here to witness it, that I'm taking you back to my place, where you'll be sleeping in my bedroom while I sleep on the bed my couch turns into. My bedroom locks from the inside, so you don't have to worry about anything happening to you while you're there. In the morning, I'll drive you to the station so you can catch your train home. Because I asked him to, Bob is going to lend you his cell phone, so you'll be able to call anyone if you need or want to."
With that, Bob reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Tania. He showed her that it was fully charged, and even had her call the front desk of the hotel so she'd know it worked. After that, she and Daneesha both looked considerably more comfortable about leaving with me.
Between the girls and me, we got all their stuff out to my cab in one trip; they had enough stuff to fill the trunk, and each still had a not-so-small bag when they got into the back. I call in to Dispatch to let then know I was done for the evening, and got us moving.
When we got to my place, both girls were relieved to see that it was clean and comfortable, if not overly large. Predictably, my cat Demosthenes was delighted to make a couple of new friends, and quickly began stropping himself against their ankles until Daneesha picked him up and started rubbing his ears – getting him sounding like a Harley with a bad muffler.
I showed the girls the way back to my bedroom, and that it was as I'd described it to them. I don't know what they expected it to look like, but I could tell that what they saw wasn't it. After each had set her bag down, I told them "I'm going to fix myself some supper. You're welcome to join me, or you can stay in here, if you want; either is fine with me. I've got sodas in the fridge, so help yourselves if you get thirsty, or there are disposable paper cups in the bathroom if you just want water."
They looked at each other before Tania said "Uh, I think both of us would like something to eat, if it isn't too much trouble."
I just smiled and said "No trouble, at all. I live here by myself, and I don't cook much, so all I was going to do was microwave some lasagne. It'll be ready in about half an hour." before turning and starting for the door with Tania following. When I got there, I turned back and told her "You've got a TV in there, so it's up to you whether you and Daneesha stay there, or come out to the living room. Either is fine with me."
She nodded her understanding, and closed the door behind me; I didn't stick around long enough to hear if she locked it, or not – I was hungry, and wanted to get supper started.