Lucille

Lucille is quite a character. She is an older woman and needed help getting around in a wheelchair. I ended up spending quite a bit of time with her because of this. She was so grateful for what we were doing. She kept saying that she was praying for us and that God would reward me for my work. She was just so very, very grateful. She had been lucky and had been able to bring a bag with her important papers and, most importantly to her, her Bible. She had written all her phone numbers in it because she knew she would have that with her.
We had some difficulty with the showering situation because her luggage was temporarily lost and we hadn't been able to find her any bottoms from the donated ones. A male volunteer helped me find her stuff, and we eventually all three made our way over to the shower area. I grabbed her bag and held it in the crook of my elbow.
"Ooh, she's working that bag!" she said to the man. "Look at her moving those hips. She's working that bag like she owns it!" The man and I looked at each other kind of embarassed. We were all working so hard, so seriously, although still caring, that it was surprising to hear this woman's sense of humor, much less something like that. He was like, "Well, you know ... mumble, mumble ... I hadn't really noticed." She said, "Well you should, honey, cuz she is working it!" We laughed and, I felt, had our spirits lifted even more. She did manage to get a shower that night and also the next morning when I came back. She was so excited because she had been able to wash her hair and her wig!
Her playfulness set up quite a fun relationship. I found quickly that I could give her a hard time and so I did. When I needed to take another woman up to medical triage because I noticed what appeared to be a huge growth on her back, I asked Lucille if it was okay if we went there first instead of to her bed. "You sure it's all right? You don't have a hot date or anything, do you?" I asked. "Well, you never know, honey!" she said. "It could happen."