Hi, Terry...Here to get the rent.

Hi. I haven't cashed my check yet. I will go to the store and do that.

Great. We will be down at the new trailer, working on it. You can just bring the money down there. And, Terry, could you please clean up around here? We will have rats getting into things if you don't.

Yes. Sorry. The kids took the dog off his leash and he got into the garbage.

OK. Well, we will see you later.

Oh hi...Come on in, Terry. Yeah, that's fine, I have five dollars change. Tell me, how is Tiffany? Is she coping alright with the loss of her son? (six years old, handicapped, had been living with his father's mother)

She just isn't the same anymore.

Is she depressed?

No, not really. She just isn't the same. She really won't talk about it, but - if she does - I just try to listen. That is the second child she has lost, you know. She also had a stillborn baby.

I am so sorry! How old is she?

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

Noone expects that at that age, do they?...Did you take your little girls to the funeral?

Yes. It was awful. They didn't understand. They went to the front and wouldn't leave their brother. And Tiffany's family just fought with the father's family. They never got along.

That is too bad. What was your family like, Terry?

I saw my Dad a couple of times. I grew up in a group home.

Oh? where was your mom?

She kept getting locked up...

That's hard! I'll bet you and Tiffany are really committed to giving your girls two parents, huh?
Have you ever thought of becoming part of a church to help with raising your girls? We have five kids, and I don't know how we would have done it if we hadn't had biblical answers and wisdom to help us. I always told my kids, and I now tell my grandchildren - that they need God inside them - someone stronger than that "bad guy" in there- to control their sin.

I used to go to the Baptist church when I was young. We would like to have the girls in Sunday School. But I am used to working night shift and we just don't get up on time. when you came to collect the rent this morning, we were just getting up.

I'll bet there are bus ministries that would come and collect them.

Yes, but they are so young, I wouldn't do that yet.

I can see that. Well, listen, I think it is time to have a walk-through of your trailer. Can I come in a couple of hours to do that?...Alright. See you later.

Hi, Terry. Hey, it looks great out here. Thanks so much for cleaning it so well...Hi, Tiffany. May I come in?...It looks wonderful....Tiffany, I'm so sorry to hear about your little son...

....Her eyes well up....Here is a picture of him...

What a sweet boy!

When he was born he had white-blond hair. But it got dark like mine.

Tears...And I give her a hug...

But they are lost. Terry is lost. Tiffany is lost. Elizabeth and Tuesday are lost. And I am just a landlord. In a few weeks they will likely be out of our lives forever.

Surreal.