Her savings have run out and she can no longer afford the B&B. Darcy has found herself homeless in the city.

Darcy sighed sadly. She would have been far better off staying where she was and sleeping in her car from the beginning. She wandered into the park and found herself a bench.
She needed to work this out somehow.

Three nights later, Darcy was curled up in the back of her car, using her bag as a pillow and her coat as a blanket. She had parked on a patch of scrubland behind a garage, well away from street lights.

Night-time brings such sombre thought

Of how the best laid plans derail

Huddled in the coldest hour

While condensation forms a veil

City’s main street music pounds

Amid the throng of night-time sounds

Darcy shivered and dozed intermittently until at last daylight crept into the car. She pulled on her coat, locked the car, and made her way, through the grey light of dawn drizzle, to the workman’s cafe for an inexpensive breakfast.

Before sitting down, she crept into the Ladies toilet for a wash and brush-up, a change of clothes, and applied a little makeup. Then, feeling much better, she settled in the corner with a newspaper, a mug of tea and a slice of toast.

Once again the Job pages held no hope. Darcy knew that she would have to sell her car as soon as possible. She could not afford to tax or insure it ...but she would have to find a place to sleep first. Finishing her last drop of tea, she left the cafe and walked down to the seafront. She had seen the homeless wandering up from the beach in the mornings and she wondered what it was like down there.

First glance discloses not a sign

No trace of where the homeless hide

Then by chance a movement caught

In shadows ‘neath the pier’s north side

As eyes adjust to depth of gloom

Revealed, those vagrants’ cardboard doom

Grubby figures in repose

Oblivious to her prying eyes

Immersed in stench of stale sweat

She felt her breakfast shift and rise

With gritted teeth, now turns to go

Her soul must never sink this low

Once back in the daylight, Darcy leaned against a breaker and took some deep breaths. She would never venture here again ...but what choices were there for a girl in her position. The car was old and would not bring her much money, and once that was gone, she would be penniless.