We left off at the bath tub in the homeless shelter….
The staff member said to the transient ” If you don’t get out of that tub, I’m calling the police.” The police? Surely she’s not serious. Just wait a while and the women will eventually get out. Certainly the police would not respond to such a request. Uhhh….we have a lady here at the homeless shelter who is in the wrong bath tub, and we need you to send an officer out to remove said lady from said tub. No, this had to be a bluff. Sadly, she was not bluffing. A few minutes passed and I could hear men’s voices coming up the stairs of the shelter where the perpetrator remained in the bath tub. There were two male officers and they were headed straight for the bathrooms. I and several others had gathered at the doorway of our bedroom to watch the scene unravel. There was no hesitation, no warning, no polite alert. The officers entered the bathroom, called the women by name, then proceeded to drag her naked, dripping wet body from the bath, across the t.v. room and down the stairs. She was screaming and crying the whole way.
Of all the wrong doing and sin in my life, I still had some heart left, and it was breaking for her. Please just leave her alone, its only a bath, she would have gotten out.
I was ashamed. Ashamed I was there, ashamed I didn’t try to help, ashamed of my sisters who chose such an act of cruelty for such a small crime. Ashamed of who I was at that very moment.
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