We spent most of the weekend at the new Guadalupe House , trying to make the city inspector happy. A Detroit mother and her three school-aged children are waiting for the all-clear signal to move in. The upstairs unit if the house will be used, for now, as short-term, crisis housing, as the need may arise.
American Family Planning was a little busier than usual, on this past, bitter-cold Saturday morning. Our focus was on a trio of women–two of them older, escoring a younger woman for her abortion. She might have been a teenager, or early 20′s. Most of our conversation was with the two older women, who each had cigarette addictions and had to come out a couple of times in order to light up. They seemed, in one sense, antagonistic; at the same time, however, even after they had finished their cigarettes they remained outside in order to argue with us. Sure enough, after about an hour, they came out with the younger one. Alicia followed the young one to the car. The woman with whom we had done most of the talking complained: “Alright already. Leave her alone.” There was kind of a light tone to her voice, though. A tone of relief, a tone of acceptance. They all left together.
