Late Night Doorbell

Late last night I was lounging and watching bad TV when the doorbell rang. I asked my husband to go see who it was. He came back and said it was our neighbors Aly & Val. They do not speak much English but he gathered they were trying to help a friend and asked for my help. Rather than wait in the cold he told them I'd be right over. I have told them many times please call on me if you ever have a problem and I will try to help. They are the best neighbors I've ever had. I put on my heavy gray sweatshirt over my plaid flannel pajama pants and left. We had a visit at Aly's dining room table. They explained that they have a friend who is separated from her husband. She also has a three year old child. She has been receiving threats from her husband and their mutual friends and needs to know how to get a restraining order. She's on her way over right now with her child, they said. I told them I will be right back. I went home and put on jeans and called the local police dispatch. Officer Boisclair answered and she was extremely helpful. She gave me five phone numbers of places for them to call. One of the phone numbers was for a domestic violence advocate named Ingrid who is bilingual and works for the local police. I wrote everything down and went back over with the list. They said they couldn't go on Monday at 9AM to meet Ingrid because they can't miss work or even stop to call. One of the numbers was an 800 number for a domestic violence help line and I called it and asked if they were able to speak Spanish. The woman said yes and I gave the phone to Aly because she speaks Spanish. She was told to get her friend to file a report at the police station tomorrow (Sunday) and then they could take that to Providence for obtaining a restraining order. Aly and Val assured me that their friend was safe for the moment but this was the next step. We were all relieved.