New Life
1942, Los Angeles, California
The very first thing Ermen did once she stepped out of the airport was to look for a US Employment Service recruitment station to get a job as a woman ordinance worker. She would have wanted to join the military as a nurse or in the women's army corps but she was worried her other brothers and relatives would find her and forcibly bring her home. Daniel was the only family member she could fully trust. She also wanted to stay in the States so she could save up and apply for college because she wanted an English degree in UCLA. She did her research and found out that they were welcoming of female students.
At the station, the recruiter asked her to write her identifying details and she paused as she was about to write her name. They required no additional IDs to verify it and she wondered if she could write a new one. She didn't want to share a surname with a man who forced her out of her home and tried to suffocate her dreams. She considered writing a more American name like "Johnson", "Stone" or "Hall" until she remembered her mother's act of support when she left her home and her maiden name "Carreira". That day on the recruitment form she officially became "Ermenjart Marie Carreira."
She was set to work at an fighter plane factory in Westchester the next week and was never happier. This quickly faded with the realization that she would have no money, no home and nothing to eat until her first paycheck arrived which would be over a month later. She could only stretch her $20 for 3 days, 4 at most and then she was on her own. She had forbidden herself to imagine this but she remembered and could almost taste the abundant food and drink in her childhood home and longed for it. Her mother always cooked the best Portuguese food.
She snapped out of it and walked aimlessly around the city until nightfall. She guessed that maybe she would find a place to stay and food to eat somewhere out there. She could not and she didn't even know where she is. To conserve her money, she did not buy a tourist's map and now she regretted it. She only knew she was in the El Sereno neighborhood, it was late at night and she was lost.
She was in despair and prepared to sleep in the streets when she saw a Catholic parish. It was not an apartment or a house but she knew she could sleep peacefully there for the time being. She would simply wake up before morning masses were being said. It was a very beautiful parish of the Dominicans and she immediately spotted the confessionals where she was to spend the night. You could lock it, it had enough space for her suitcase and herself and she wouldn't disturb anyone if she overslept.
The next morning, she found herself waking up on a bed, in a bedroom with her suitcase in the corner and she became absolutely terrified. Did her family finally catch up to her? She jumped out of bed, took her suitcase and ran out the door. She quite literally bumped into a very young priest wearing a long cassock, froze, stared at him in fear and shock while he quizzically looked at her. He cleared his throat then said:
"I am certain that the bed is a more comfortable sleeping arrangement than the confessional. My apologies for not introducing myself, I am Fr. Dominic Bermingham the curate of this parish, St. Rose of Lima. I opened the confessional door and saw you sleeping there so I carried you to the rectory. Would you like to join me for breakfast?"
Ermen could only nod as he led her to the dining area where a whole pot of Coffee was already there. He started to cook then said:
"What's your name and how did you end up homeless? Oh." He paused. "I'm very sorry if that came too direct."
"It's alright Fr." She replied. "My name is Ermenjart Marie Carreira. I was born and raised in New York. I came here to look for a job which I did in a factory in Westchester but I found that I had too little money to survive before I got my first paycheck."
"Can you ask your family or any other relatives for help?"
"I'm afraid not so. I'm not on speaking terms with them. By the way, I'm a practicing Catholic and I just graduated from a Catholic school this year."
He smiled away from Ermen's sight. "That's wonderful. You can actually stay here for as long as you like." Her face was filled with shock but he could not see it as he was busy cooking. "Are you sure? I don't want to bother you."
"Of course. You can keep staying in that room. I'm a priest and I'm alone anyway." She was unable to say anything.
The week came by quickly. Fr. Dominic took care of her needs while she reciprocated his kindness by doing chores around the parish. To evade gossip, he pretended that she was his childless, widowed sister looking for a job in the city. When she started work in the munitions factory, she asked if she had to move out and he said it wasn't necessary. She was more than welcome to stay as long as she'd like.
Luckily for her, she immediately understood how to assemble airplanes, the factory had good working conditions and she found she would have a decent wage. She always wanted to get out of Fr. Dominic's rectory not because she disliked his kindness but because she wanted to support herself as soon as possible. If there was any other option, she would not have agreed to live in his rectory. She was even looking for an cheap apartment near her work. The only things that were certain was that she would continue to attend his parish even if she moved out and that, for the rest of her life, she would remember his act of kindness to a stranger at rock bottom.