Read Online Laura's Big Win by Michelle Tschantre' - Free Book Online Page A

eyes made seeing difficult.
The act did not go without notice from Laura, whose own heart
stopped for a beat when she saw the big man first reach for her
comparatively tiny daughter. It was an act of kindness that,
reasonable explanation or not, said these people, if nothing else,
loved small children. And with that, the shelter was behind
them.
    Jack’s eyes widened at the big SUV.
Like many small boys, he was fascinated by anything automotive, and
while his 5 year old mind couldn’t grasp all of the significant
details, it was perfectly clear to him that this was a much better
ride than the long bus trip. As the side door powered open, Laura
was surprised to see the car seats already in place, somehow not
what she had envisioned in a vehicle like this. Clearly, this was
not the average family sedan, but that fact was lost on the kids as
they climbed into seats, ready for launch. At a quick glance, Laura
estimated it would hold eight adults comfortably, plus luggage and
probably a couple sets of golf clubs as well, but if nothing else,
Dennis seemed quite at home in it. Sensing her curiosity, Alice
said: “We don’t usually have the car seats in this unit because
it’s so high up off the ground for the kids to climb into, but we
do keep them available; some clients bring their kids, and we knew
we would need them tonight. Dennis picked this vehicle for the run;
I think maybe it’s his favorite, and since he volunteered, I had to
overlook the poor gas mileage it gets. I should tell you that you
made the local evening news television. That’s how all this got
started, but, again, my orders were just to get you out of the
shelter if you wanted to come with us. I think you will find it was
a good decision, although we’ll know better in the morning. Anyway,
you’ll have a good night’s sleep, so it can’t be all
bad.”
    Dennis expertly powered into the
traffic stream, but the sight of a familiar landmark logo ahead
prompted him to ask if anyone was hungry. Laura was a little
embarrassed at the “Yes, Sir” chorus that rang out, although she
knew their last meal on limited funds had been somewhat marginal
for growing children. She had rather counted on Nancy’s generosity,
and while the shelter fed them, they were close to the end of their
available finances and were making do as best they could. Dennis
glanced over at Alice, who simply nodded in agreement with his
decision. Laura, swallowing hard, had to stop this before it went
too far; she simply didn’t have any funds left. But as she started
to speak with a tremor in her voice, Alice sensed the problem and
cut her off: “Courtesy of Windmere. Consider it to be a part of our
client hospitality greeting package. Besides, I think Dennis just
volunteered to buy, since he’ll probably stick the company for
overtime anyway. Not that I’ll authorize it.”
    “Thank you” was all Laura could muster
at the moment. These people really did seem to understand the dire
nature of her situation, and apparently really were there to help
her.
    Kids meals distributed to eager hands,
Dennis also ordered extra of the large chocolate chip cookies, for
“emergency uses” as he explained it. And not to be out eaten by two
small children, he also ordered the extra size triple burger and
made it invisible in about four bites. The ladies, ostensibly more
delicate in nature than the former footballer, went for the high
end salad combo’s, but didn’t hold back much on utensil speed. In
her distress, Laura had not realized how very hungry she had
become.
    Later on, while Laura and Alice were
relaxing for a moment, Jack and Amanda were taking turns trying to
fly in the play area. Climbing on whatever they could find, they
burned off significant energy by hurling themselves into the air,
to be caught in mid-flight by the waiting Dennis. Twenty minutes of
that and Mrs. Hamilton thought they were probably depressurized
enough to continue their journey
    It was fully dark out now and