Granted A Second Chance To Say This

Who asks to be homeless? I didn’t, but it happened to me. I left Baltimore to come to Massachusetts to work as a welder at the Quincy Shipyard. I wanted to make a better life for my family and I. I had been laid off as a welder at the Sparrows Point Shipyard and was working as a maid at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel when a recruiter for Quincy Shipyard approached me and asked if I knew of any laid off shipyard workers looking for work. I told him that I was a welder and was interested. He asked me to take a welding test and then I was hired. The living conditions that he told me and the men and women that I referred to him were lies. He had a hotel room with two beds, for more than a dozen women who were recruited from different states to stay. I slept on the floor and left in the morning looking for a room. I could not afford the cost for a room at the hotel. I slept from pillar to post and had to leave some places in the middle of the night and before dawn because somebody’s husband or boyfriend would try to take advantage of me because I was alone. Wrong. I slept at Greyhound Stations, Trailways Bus Station and Amtrak Train Station. I also rented a room, in a men’s boarding house and slept in vestibules. I left one place because the lady’s boyfriend was standing over me while I was sleeping on a sofa. I left that night with no place to go. Walking and crying in the rain, I was approached by a man who asked me what was wrong. I told him that I was looking for a room to rent. He was just another stranger like everyone else that I have encountered previously. By now I was mentally and physically drained and being naive. He said I think Ms. (can't remember her name) gotta a room. I walked upstairs to what looked like a rooming house to me. I stepped inside to where Ms. (can't remember name) was supposed to be. He started locking and kept locking the door, there were about four or five locks on the door. It was an efficiency apartment, he backed me into the bedroom into a chair as he sat on the bed and pulled a shotgun from under the mattress and said give me a kiss honey. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t kiss him. He asked me again what was my name and I told him Brenda. He broke down and started crying and apologized saying that he had a daughter named Brenda. I sat in the chair all night and eventually, I fell asleep. He left bags of groceries and a note on the kitchen table apologizing again. The note read, that I could stay if I wanted to. I left out of there flying and never looked back. After what had just happened to me made me realize that God had taken all the fear from me which kept me from getting shot and possibly murdered. God was totally in control of my situation for which I am eternally grateful. My family and friends encouraged me to write a book of poetry. If I can give back by writing and giving to the homeless I will never cease to keep on writing. I decided that all proceeds from this book will be donated to the homeless. If you have been fortunate and never experienced being homeless you have no idea what a person endures. I want to praise God in my poetry and give thanks for all that He has brought me through. Who asks to be homeless? I didn’t, but it happened to me. I left Baltimore to come to Massachusetts to work as a welder at the Quincy Shipyard. I wanted to make a better life for my family and I. I had been laid off as a welder at the Sparrows Point Shipyard and was working as a maid at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel when a recruiter for Quincy Shipyard approached me and asked if I knew of any laid off shipyard workers looking for work. I told him that I was a welder and was interested. He asked me to take a welding test and then I was hired. The living conditions that he told me and the men and women that I referred to him were lies. He had a hotel room with two beds, for more than a dozen women who were recruited from different states to stay. I slept on the floor and left in the morning looking for a room. I could not afford the cost for a room at the hotel. I slept from pillar to post and had to leave some places in the middle of the night and before dawn because somebody’s husband or boyfriend would try to take advantage of me because I was alone. Wrong. I slept at Greyhound Stations, Trailways Bus Station and Amtrak Train Station. I also rented a room, in a men’s boarding house and slept in vestibules. I left one place because the lady’s boyfriend was standing over me while I was sleeping on a sofa. I left that night with no place to go. Walking and crying in the rain, I was approached by a man who asked me what was wrong. I told him that I was looking for a room to rent. He was just another stranger like everyone else that I have encountered previously. By now I was mentally and physically drained and being naive. He said I think Ms. (can't remember her name) gotta a room. I walked upstairs to what looked like a rooming house to me. I stepped inside to where Ms. (can't remember name) was supposed to be. He started locking and kept locking the door, there were about four or five locks on the door. It was an efficiency apartment, he backed me into the bedroom into a chair as he sat on the bed and pulled a shotgun from under the mattress and said give me a kiss honey. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t kiss him. He asked me again what was my name and I told him Brenda. He broke down and started crying and apologized saying that he had a daughter named Brenda. I sat in the chair all night and eventually, I fell asleep. He left bags of groceries and a note on the kitchen table apologizing again. The note read, that I could stay if I wanted to. I left out of there flying and never looked back. After what had just happened to me made me realize that God had taken all the fear from me which kept me from getting shot and possibly murdered. God was totally in control of my situation for which I am eternally grateful. My family and friends encouraged me to write a book of poetry. If I can give back by writing and giving to the homeless I will never cease to keep on writing. I decided that all proceeds from this book will be donated to the homeless. If you have been fortunate and never experienced being homeless you have no idea what a person endures. I want to praise God in my poetry and give thanks for all that He has brought me through. Who asks to be homeless? I didn’t, but it happened to me. I left Baltimore to come to Massachusetts to work as a welder at the Quincy Shipyard. I wanted to make a better life for my family and I. I had been laid off as a welder at the Sparrows Point Shipyard and was working as a maid at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel when a recruiter for Quincy Shipyard approached me and asked if I knew of any laid off shipyard workers looking for work. I told him that I was a welder and was interested. He asked me to take a welding test and then I was hired. The living conditions that he told me and the men and women that I referred to him were lies. He had a hotel room with two beds, for more than a dozen women who were recruited from different states to stay. I slept on the floor and left in the morning looking for a room. I could not afford the cost for a room at the hotel. I slept from pillar to post and had to leave some places in the middle of the night and before dawn because somebody’s husband or boyfriend would try to take advantage of me because I was alone. Wrong. I slept at Greyhound Stations, Trailways Bus Station and Amtrak Train Station. I also rented a room, in a men’s boarding house and slept in vestibules. I left one place because the lady’s boyfriend was standing over me while I was sleeping on a sofa. I left that night with no place to go.