Have you met Charlotte? I really like her, although I have to admit she can be a little crazy. We first got to know each on a trip to Washington—not the state, our nation’s capitol. I was looking for a roommate to share hotel expenses for the counseling psychologist convention. So a mutual friend put me in touch with Charlotte. We met each other for the first time at the airport, when we caught our flight to D.C. Since our seats were several rows apart, we didn’t get to visit until after we landed and got in the taxi to go to our hotel.
I’ve done a lot of travelling, and I could tell right away Charlotte and I would be compatible roommates. When someone walks in the room, turns on the TV to her favorite channel, and cranks up the volume we’re in for a bumpy ride. Charlotte didn’t do that. Nor did she take up more than half of the vanity countertop space—I hate it when someone does that, don’t you? She was considerate enough to make the bathroom all neat when she was through taking her shower. I’d have to say making her bed every morning was overkill. Charlotte is something of a neat freak, but a pleasant one. Not one of those screech owls, keeping everything in perfect order and getting huffy if you don’t do the same.
We got unpacked and decided to go find some dinner. I suggested a restaurant I’d spotted when the taxi let us off at the hotel. It was one of those tiny mom-and-pop eateries with a lot of character and usually pretty good food that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. It was a totally DC kind of place.
We were walking over to the restaurant when some nasty-looking guy comes up to us and asks for money. I was going to walk right by him, but she asks him why he needs money. I’m thinking, Get a grip, Charlotte! He wants money for wine, booze, or drugs. Can’t you tell by looking at him?
Of course, he says he’s hungry, hasn’t had a meal in three days. I had a creepy feeling Charlotte was going to give him money--but she did something worse. She invited him to come and have dinner with us! I think I’m just as compassionate as the next person, but I was definitely not in the mood to share dinner with someone who didn’t look all that clean.
When we started to go inside the restaurant, some little old fellow—it turned out he was the restaurant’s owner—came bouncing out of a back room yelling “He no come in here. That man no come. No come.” It took me a minute to realize he was talking about that tramp Charlotte picked up on our way in. After some conversation, Charlotte told the wino if he would wait outside, she would buy him some food and bring it to him. I was already wishing I’d had room service. But I sat in a booth while my new friend got a go box and filled it at the buffet line. She even went outside a couple of times to talk to the homeless guy. Told me later it was to find out what he liked to eat!
After the weirdo went on his way with a big box full of food, we sat down and ate dinner. Strange thing is, Charlotte acted like nothing out of the ordinary happened. We talked about business, our kids, and normal stuff.
After the conference, we got on a flight that was absolutely packed. Every seat was taken. We were in the back, across from the galley. Our seats didn’t recline, but that row in front of us sure did. Charlotte traded with me so I could have the aisle because I was getting claustrophobia in that middle seat. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was a huge storm system between here and Washington. That airplane bumped up and down like a stock market graph. When the flight attendants started acting nervous, I thought we were going to crash.
I had to wake Charlotte up to tell her we were going to die. Know what she said? “Let’s pray.” She held my hand and said a prayer for our safety and then she went right back to sleep. See what I mean about being a little nutty? You can read more about Charlotte in “A Hero’s Homecoming” by Carlene Havel.