Maid

I'm Denise. I'm a survivor of domestic violence.

Hi, Denise.

Hi, Denise.

Does anyone want to share anything today before we start with our special activity?

Okay. Then I'll turn this over to Alex.

Let's give her a warm welcome.

Thanks, guys.

I'm Alex and I am a survivor of domestic violence.

Hi, Alex.

I asked Denise if I could do some volunteer work and...

I meant cleaning the toilets, but...

Denise said that I should do this instead

and I said "no," and she said "yes," and here we are.

Show them your serial-killer notebook.

She says my writing looks like a serial killer's, so...

Damn, you wrote all that?

I did. Yes. I wrote this just since I've been at McMullen House.

Do any of you guys write for fun?

Brandi, you do not need to raise your hand.

I had a diary in 5th grade. It was furry and pink.

It had a little lock on it.

-Yeah. Me too. I had one of those. -Mm.

Here's the hard question.

Who were you writing to when you wrote?

Nobody. Just myself.

Yeah, same.

Writing is where I go to be honest about how I feel.

Sometimes it's really the only way for me to know what it is that I'm feeling.

Like I have to write in order to see what I'm gonna write.

If that makes any sense.

But...

I find that it's a lot easier to write the truth than it is to say it out loud.

Nobody can take writing away from you.

Nobody can tell you that you're wrong, or your words are wrong.

Because they're not.

You're right, and your words are fucking right.

Because they're yours.

Anyway, we all have notebooks and pens.

Are we gonna read this out loud?

You can if you want to, but you definitely don't have to if you don't want to.

Okay, so I brought some writing prompts

that I got from a real professor from the Internet

that is qualified to be teaching things.

Okay. Describe a day in your life that you were really happy.

It can be a real day that actually happened.

Or an imagined day that you wish would happen.

I'm gonna put ten minutes on...

the clock.

There's no pressure, we're just writing for the sake of writing.

That was great.

-Can I ask something? You have a minute? -Of course.

I know the answer to this already,

but we're not allowed to have any visitors at the shelter, are we?

No. I'm sorry, baby girl.

We can only have individual victims and their children in shelter.

-Figured. -Why?

Um, I just found out that my mom's living in a car.

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks.

Is she a victim of DV?

She's a chronic victim of DV, but she's also in complete denial

and delusional and unmedicated, so...

Is she over 55?

Mm-hm.

They have a program called SHARE that puts homeless folks at senior centers,

but she has to enroll.

Yeah. Ah...

She really hates everything government-oriented

and she's on the lam from a psych ward, so that's not gonna work out.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that can look after your mom?

No, I've been taking care of her since I was 6.

What would happen if you didn't?

I think I'll do something, I don't know,

something spectacular when I walk in.

They come in really strong. Yeah, that's a good idea, so...

Oh, shit, man.

-Hey, Mom. -Alex, hey.

I thought that was you, I was just driving home from a clean and I saw your car.

She's hard to miss.

-What are you up to out here? -Oh, well, look at Her Majesty.

Spring has sprung.

It's gonna be a cotton-candy sunset,

and I'm gonna watch every sugar-coated moment of her.

Looks like you were talking to the birds.

Oh, no, honey.

I downloaded that dictation app onto my phone.

Because I'm giving a lecture on the Neolithic concept

of the solar barge to the collective.

And, um, I would write this one, but I can't.

Because my fucking arm's killing me.

Oh, where's your cast, Mom?

Where did your cast go?

Oh.

It was plastered to your wrist. Where did it go?

Uh...

I had a terrible itch, so I had Micah saw it off.

I have to say, it was oddly erotic.

Are you kidding me? The cast has to be on for six more weeks.

-It's fine. -No, that's not fine.

You have a severed tendon and now your tendon is not gonna heal.

If you're gonna ruin the cotton candy, you're gonna have to go.

I'm, um...

I'm glad that I ran into you.

I know that you have a great living situation in your loft

with your collective, but, um...

I told you I'm moving to Montana.

What if you came with me?

I've got a place on campus.

You could hang with Maddy

and you could go on walks and you could paint all day.

Watch Maddy start kindergarten.

Oh, babe, that's not me.

Why not?

Because I'm not boring.

I've got a big life.

I can't be galloping off behind you, being a tag along.

No, Mom. I'm really serious. I'm inviting you.

My blood's here, honey.

My mama's buried here. Her mama's buried here.

The Langley women are here.

I am a Langley woman and I am going.

I know, baby, and that's you.

But, uh...

I can't leave.

Okay.

Go to some appointments before I leave.

-Like the wrist doctor. -Hard pass.

I'm making you an appointment for tomorrow, okay?

You're gonna meet me there. Nod that you hear me.

I don't wanna have to worry about you when I'm gone, Mom.

Look at that. Cotton candy.

We're starting here, and then we're gonna go over some mountains.

We're gonna go to Spokane, which is a really big city.

Then we're gonna go over more mountains.

Then over some more mountains.

All the way to Missoula.

-Mm-hm. -Right there.

Missoula.

Missoula.

It's gonna take us this many hours.

Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

Nine hours.

-And "Shoop." -Exactly.

No!

Hi, I'd like to place an order for English 102, Block 5, textbook.

For books?

Do you have any used copies?

Great, um, would you mind setting one of those aside?

I can be there on Tuesday.

Thank you.

-Hey, Tara. -Oh, good, hi.

Just a quick update for you.

I just got back from the clerk's office.

-Uh-oh. -No, it's fine.

They objected to the notice of relocation, which we knew,

but the motion for the ex parte emergency custody order

has been filed and I also slapped him with a temporary no-contact order,

so that ought to make a point.

-So he can't contact me? -Correct.

The sheriff should be serving him with the restraining order

and the ex parte motion this morning.

Okay. Uh...

-So, what happens now? -We wait.

I left word for Sean's attorney. We should know more soon.

Okay, thank you so much.

Yeah, no problem, bye.

Brandi, I think you were next, right?

I don't know if this is my happiest day ever,

but it's what came to my mind during then.

Perfect.

"I used to go on these walks with my dad as a kid.

We'd go in June before the sticky late-summer heat.

I'd get one of those Flintstone orange popsicles from 7-Eleven.

The kind you have to use all your might to push up.

We'd walk along the ocean looking at the Virgo constellations,

since my birthday is four days before his.

My dad would point to the sky and tell me

he was the Big Dipper and I was the Little Dipper.

We stopped going on our walks when my dad got sick.

But I went back recently with my son.

Got him a Flintstone orange popsicle.

They're much easier to push up now.

I looked up at the night sky, and there it was...

as if zero time had passed.

The Big and Little Dipper."

That's it.

So of course we wanna keep everything that we say positive,

but I was hoping that we could say some of the images

that are gonna stay with us from Brandi's story.

"Sticky late-summer heat."

"They're much easier to push up now."

"Zero time had passed."

"Big and Little Dipper."

Does anybody else wanna share?

Please leave a message after the tone.

Mom.

Mom!

Hey, honey.

Don't. We're going to the doctor.