The Door That Should Have Been Locked

I had been homeless for six weeks, sleeping in my car behind a grocery store in Providence. I had applied for emergency shelter three times and been turned away each time. On the morning of March 28th I walked past a church I had passed a hundred times and the side door was standing open. I don't know why I went in. A woman was setting up chairs inside. She was from a housing nonprofit I had never heard of. She handed me a card and said, "I don't know why, but I think you need this today." I had a place to sleep that night. I have not slept in my car since.