Janet Barton - A Home for Her Heart

“If we want to know,” John answered, “now would be the time to find out. No one has come out to see what we’re up to yet. Are you up to it?”

Elizabeth gave a short nod while Millicent let go of her nose long enough to take a quick picture. Then they followed John up the stairs.

“If anyone asks, we can say we’re looking for someone,” he said in a low voice.

But they met no one in the halls. Everything was shut up, tight as a drum, the hallways dark from unwashed windows at the end of them, except where the broken windowpanes let light through, and only a dim lightbulb here and there. The stair railings were loose, just asking for an accident, and the trash in the hallways added to the odors that had them all holding their noses.

“Get a picture of that, Millicent.” Elizabeth shuddered and pointed to a rat getting his fill of something in a sack in a dark corner. “I hate to think children live here.”

Millicent let go of her nose and quickly took the picture. “Do we have enough?”

“For now,” John said. “Come on. Let’s get you both out of here. I shouldn’t have let you come inside in the first place.”

“We had to know what it is Kathleen was talking about, John,” Elizabeth said.

Just then a door cracked open. Millicent slid the camera into her bag and they all froze where they were.

Elizabeth held her breath and her heart seemed to stop beating as a big man backed out of the room. “You have one more day to pay your rent, Miss Hardin. If I don’t have it by tomorrow, you’re goin’ to be out on the streets.”

“I don’t know where I’m going to get it—I don’t get paid for another two days,” a woman’s voice said.

Elizabeth’s heart went out to her. How awful it would be to have to live here—and to pay good money to do so!

“Then you’d best be packing now.” The man turned and slammed the door behind him. He was big and foreboding as he realized strangers were in the hall.

“I don’t recognize the lot of you—who are you and what are you lookin’ for up here?”

John stepped forward. “Are you the landlord”

“I am. Mister Brown to you, and from the looks of ya, you aren’t lookin’ for an apartment. So just what is it you’re up to in my building?”

“We’re visiting.”

“Who is it you’re visitin’?”

Elizabeth hurried to the door he’d come out of. “Miss Hardin.”

“You’re friends of hers?”

Elizabeth had a feeling they were about to be. “We are.”

“Well, if you are, ya might help her with the rent, as she’s about to be thrown out on the street.”

“And how much does she owe?” John asked.

He named a figure and John dug in his pocket as Elizabeth and Millicent opened their pocketbooks.

Together they quickly came up with the amount Miss Hardin owed and John handed it to the man. “We want a receipt for it so our friend has proof that she’s paid up.”

“I’ll get you one. Come with me.”

“You two go on in and let our friend know she doesn’t have to move anywhere for now. I’ll be back once I get the receipt.”

John and the landlord started down stairs, the man saying, “If you’re such good friends with Miss Hardin, why aren’t you helpin’ her get out of here?”

“If you’re the landlord, why aren’t you doing something to clean up this building?”

“That ain’t any of your business, mister.”

Dear Lord, please don’t let anything happen to John, Elizabeth prayed as she hurried to knock on the door. “Miss Hardin?”

“Yes? Who is it?”

“We’re the women who just helped pay your rent,” Millicent said bluntly. “Please open the door.”

The door cracked open and a young woman about their age peeked around the door. “Why would you pay my rent?”

“We don’t like the landlord,” Millicent said.

“Or how he talked to you,” Elizabeth added. “And we wanted to help.”

The young woman looked totally confused as tears rushed to her eyes and she opened the door to let them in. “I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I have barely enough for food until payday. I was sick a week ago and couldn’t work. I— My name is Lacy and I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“We aren’t worried about that. We just didn’t want you thrown out.” Elizabeth dug in her pocketbook for one of Mrs. Heaton’s cards. “If you have problems—ever need a place to stay for a while, come here. You’ll be welcomed.”

The young woman turned the card over in her hand. “Heaton House.”

“Yes. It’s where we live. And our landlady takes in temporary boarders from time to time.”

There was a knock on the door and John said, “It’s me, Elizabeth. I have the receipt.”

“That’s our friend, John Talbot. He got a receipt for you from the landlord.”

Lacy opened the door and John handed her a piece of paper. “Keep that with you.”

She looked at the paper. “I really don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you is enough,” Elizabeth said. “And keep that receipt handy in case you need proof that your rent has been paid.”

The woman nodded as Elizabeth and Millicent headed out the door. Just as they were about to leave, John turned to the woman. “You wouldn’t happen to know who owns the building, do you?”

She shook her head. “No. The only person we ever see is Mr. Brown and then only when we pay the rent or he comes to collect. He’s not here half the time. Can never find him when we need anything.”

“Is it always in this condition?”

She sighed. “It is. I— Thank you again. I’ll try to repay you one day.”

“Keep safe and lock this door,” John said.

“Yes, I will.”

Elizabeth led the way back downstairs, wondering if the other two were as glad to get out of there as she was. She could hear the click of Millicent taking pictures along the way and hoped they would be good enough to use in the Delineator or the Tribune.

Once they were back outside, all three took deep, cleansing breaths—or they would be if the neighborhood had any clean air in it. It appeared that in spite of efforts to clean up the tenements, there was still much to be done.

“Do we want to find the next building?” Elizabeth asked.

“Maybe we should save that for another day?” Millicent suggested. “That was awful. I had no idea what it was like inside these buildings.”

John looked from one to the other. “We can come another time. What do you think, Elizabeth?”

She nodded. She had no desire to go into another building as bad as this one today. “Yes, let’s save it for another day.”

It was a quiet walk to the trolley stop. Elizabeth didn’t know about the others, but her heart was heavy at the conditions they’d seen and it made her admire Kathleen even more. “When I think of Kathleen and her family living in similar surroundings, my heart breaks all over again for her. I am so happy she and Luke have found each other.”

“I knew she’d lived in the tenements, but I never knew what kind of environment that meant until now,” Millicent said.

“Her building wasn’t quite as bad as the one we just saw, but the living conditions aren’t good in any of them. Some of the landlords are better than others, though.”

Millicent sighed and shook her head. “What a shame. I’m going to get off at Michael’s office and develop these photos. Hopefully I got some you can use. I’ll bring them back with me.”

Mrs. Heaton’s son, Michael, had cleared out a large storage closet near his office in the building he owned and was letting Millicent use it for a darkroom until she could afford to set up her business elsewhere.

“That’d be great, Millicent,” John said.