SAVED

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a wonderful family but who also grew up to learn that these people all had turbulent pasts.  As a very little girl nothing touched her because she was innocent as children all are at least for a little while.  Life was exciting and beautiful.  Her aunts, uncles and cousins were loving and kind.  Other people slowly but surely came into her circle of awareness. 

As long as her inner circle kept her safe, the outer one never came close enough to really touch her.  Then as she began to go to school, little by little the protective shield began to erode.  At first there were little holes in the protective shield.  Then, over time, those openings began to widen and there was less protection and more exposure to the outside and more frightening circle.

One day the little girl was standing and waiting for the school bus down the block from her house.  The other children went to a different school.  Their bus had already picked them up and she stood there in wait by herself.  Out of the corner of her eye she spied a man on the opposite side of the street looking at her so hard that a shiver went through her.

When he was out sight and saw the bus approaching, she felt safe even though the school bus driver, Frank, made her feel as if she didn’t deserve to be picked up. 

“If it weren’t for you, I could go straight down Broadway and not have to go out of my way,” he announced in his booming voice. 

Since she was only six years old, she dared not utter the words Frank needed to hear.  Nor did she tell her family or teachers about the way the bus driver greeted her when he came to get her.  Neither did she mention to anyone the man who stared at her menacingly.

A pattern began to form.  Every school day since First Grade started a few days ago, her mama fed her a delicious breakfast then got her ready with a sandwich for lunch.  Instead of a lunch pail, the little girl used her doll’s suitcase and instead of a school bag she had a leather rucksack. 

Each morning she was apprehensive to the point of anxiety because of the man who walked on the opposite side of the street where she waited for the bus.  He always leered, not that she knew what leering was, but he never approached her.  When the school bus arrived, she would move as far away from Frank as possible which wasn’t far at all because she got on last.  Then she sat and felt angry and ashamed to be such a burden.  The real danger was supplanted by the emotions Frank caused her to experience.

The next week, again waiting in front of the frame house with the big old-fashioned porch, she noticed the same man.  Today he looked directly at her with a very sinister glint in his eyes.  He walked by and then pivoted.  As he was about to cross the street, she ran up the wooden stairs to the porch where the cranky lady who lived there sat in the afternoon. Her finger was pushing the door bell and when the lady opened the door, she was kind and listened to the child who was apologizing for ringing her bell.

In a moment all her fears about the man who stared at her every day and who had crossed the street today for the first time and the shame she felt because Frank had to go out of his way to pick her up, came pouring out as if a dam had just broken.  The lady called her mother.  Both of the girl’s parents came and wanted to know why she never told them about the man who frightened her.  Her daddy was particularly interested in what she had told the lady about Frank. 

To this day the little girl, now a woman, is grateful to the lady who answered her door that dreadful day and saved her from who knows what.

Yvonne A.

Sep. 2019