Marina is a sweet-but-though 26 year old woman from El Salvador whom arrived to my neighborhood about four months ago. The details of how and why she arrived here are irrelevant to the case, but she is making her way to the US in order to reunite with her brother, who is an honest and hard-working man, though this is just the impression I got from the interaction we had arranging a bank transfer and withdrawl for her sister.

We arranged this transfer two days ago, on a Sunday. She was insistent that it all had to be done that same day. I was happy to help, but irritated at her insistance that I do it the same day. Besides, why was it me who had to help a hand? She has a Mexican boyfriend who has the necessary documentation for that. Ahhh, maybe the boyfriend might want to be indulge in the financial stash and she wanted to keep it secret.

After a failed attempt at withdrawl because I had arrived too early to the bank I texted her that I would try again the next day, on Monday. She pleaded with me to make some time and try again. Irritated to the point of frustration, I head to a dollar store and wasted time and money buying things I didn’t want or need. I went back to the bank and got the withdrawl, and then planned on lecturing her on being more considerate with the urgency of her plights.

Despite her throughly reserved manners, when I gave her the money I sensed her relief, and I understood that it was important for her. So I promptly discarded my lecture and head back home.

This morning I encountered Óscar, the owner of the house where Marina is living. He is a man with a biological age of 36, but I estimate his mental age to oscilate between 9 and 18, depending on his well-being. Stress puts him under terrible fits of rage, which have been under control lately, but I could see he was boiling inside.

—“Marina has COVID! That’s enough! They are out of my house!” —“Wait a minute Óscar, what? Who says that?” —“The doctor!” —“Well, and what are you going to do?” —“Somebody needs to speak with them, I cant… I can’t do it”. —“Hmmm hmmm. Look Óscar, it is a complex situation. You shouldn’t throw her out because she is sick. —“It’s not just that. She treats me like I am stupid and she bums my cigarrettes. She uses my shampoo without my permission. She takes food without asking”. —“Look Óscar, we need to talk about this over dinner. Drop by tonight and we’ll chat about it”.

I considered his plight seriously. This was indeed a crisis situation well beyond his capacity, and given his mental situation. She arrived to Óscar’s house via her boyfriend, who is friends with Óscar. Her boyfriend often stays over, but does not live with her.

If it were possible, it would even be wise for him to kick her out as soon as possible. He can’t take care of himself, it is impossible to ask of him that he attends her needs because she can’t leave her room. But that would be leaving her the terrible state of finding another home while sick. A likely scenario, should nobody intercede.

The other likely scenario was that she would flat out refuse to leave, because she knows her situation would be dire. Marina claims to have been a gang member, which I believe, and in her situation it is also wise to defend a safe haven, her alternatives could be much be much worse.

I thought this until Óscar came for dinner today.

He played down the incident and said that his friend, Marina’s boyfriend “made him believe it”, and when I asked him to elaborate, he made it seem it had all been a joke. “But what happened then? They let you go thinking she had covid?”, he demurred and changed the subject.

“Listen, Óscar, it is your house and it is your right to ask someone to leave, but it can be very messy and even if she does not have COVID, you’ve been complaining every day about them, but I must ask you to consider: remember when you were all alone, and how difficult it is to be on your own. Your current life looks more sensible than what you had before. If you are kicking out your friends, you will be back on your own and you must take that into consideration.”

He thought about it two seconds.

“No, it’s not worth it, they are fighting all the time, it scares me, it messes me up. Today it was terrible, they hit each other. I yell them to stop it, but they don’t stop.”.

Well, Óscar, yes that indeed sounds terrible, no wonder you want to get away of it. And he kept on complaining about minor things which anybody who has gone through privations will understand where they come from. We continued with dinner, and it came to me suddenly: “Óscar, was X violent with Marina because he discovered she was hiding the money his brother had sent?”. He looked down and said: yes, it was about that.

So this bastard beat her up because of the money. He probably took it. If this is true, he would have left, leaving a window of opportunity to intercede, even if the chances of things getting messy are high. I must operate entirely from spirit, and allow reason to seek no attachment to outcome.

The Sufis speak of veils removed, and I felt this one removed and understood her plight: she is trapped in a horrible situation from which she clearly has to move on. I must speak with her tomorrow, and ask her what she needs to get her unstuck.