It was past two in the afternoon when I finished my lunch at the bus station lunch counter. I dreaded stepping out in the cold weather again. I still had two more locations to check out. It would start getting dark soon. I looked at the map and started walking. I noticed a mailman delivering mail in one block. So, there was someone else to give me company on these deserted streets. A UPS van was parked in front of another house.

I knocked on the door of the next house on my list. A young man wearing sweatpants and matching hoodie answered. He asked me to wait and went inside to get the owner, whose name I later learned was Mrs. English. She came out with a smiling face. In a grandmotherly tone she said she has a room to rent but was holding it for another young man who was going to confirm by that evening.

“Come back tomorrow, and I’ll tell for sure,” she said.

I thanked her and said I will do that.

“Will it be alright if I call you?”

“Of course.”

She gave me her number.

At least there was a glimmer of hope for me, only a hope. What if the other boy takes it? What if there are no more rooms left on the last house I had on my list. I am doomed. One more day and I will have to move out from Owen’s dorm. God! Oh God, please help me.