Thursday, November 5, 2009

So yesterday I was driving back from the valley. I had made a quick trip down and back in one day, which is by no means "quick" ! After 8 hours of driving aside from the stress of the business I went for. As I turned off the Y onto paper mill road toward Taylor, I was feeling so happy to be almost home! Paper mill road is just two lane road, very narrow without shoulders on either side. The speed limit is 50 mph. But that has no effect on the big trucks going to and from the mill, they just plow through at 75 mph...
In my relief and happiness being just a few miles from town, I was looking up ahead and could see two little girls standing on the side of the road. I was thinking "why are those girls not getting off the road?" I assumed from a distance them to be, 9 and 10. But as I was getting closer I began to realize that they are not getting any bigger. They are just tiny girls, and as I get closer and I see big truck after big truck fly past them without even swerving my heart begins to pound in my chest. I was suddenly in the middle of the worse panic attack of my life!

I began to slow, and as soon as I was past them and I slammed on my brakes and drove it straight into the ditch! I got out and started running back toward them. I didn't want to scare them, The last thing I wanted was for them to start running in whatever direction ,so I start saying "hi, hi, what are you guys doing" in my friendliest sweet voice, as I am running full speed straight at them....
Well they didn't run, they both just stood and stared at me. The older girl who must have be maybe 3 was standing about 2 feet off the road in the weeds. The baby who couldn't have been more than 18 months was standing on the road itself, probably 2 or 3 feet in from the yellow line.
I picked her up and she wrapped herself around me like a little monkey! The poor thing, she was scared to death! So I start asking questions, "So what are you girls doing?" "We don't know" "How did you get here?" "We don't know" "Where were you before you were here?"
A minute later a van pulled up and a woman jumped out and started yelling at them, "what are you doing out of the yard?" I was horrified beyond words, there was not a yard within a mile of the spot where I found them! Hell I don't know I can't even guess, it was a mile at least!
The older one she grabbed by the arm and pushed her into the van, the little one didn't even reach for her when the mother turned back to me! As I peeled the baby's little arms and legs from the vise grip she had on me, my mind was spinning trying to come up with what I could do to prove to myself that I should let this woman take them and someway to know that they would be safe...
As I watched her drive away with these two beautiful gifts from heaven, I realized I would never know. I am tormented by the vision of these two little girls standing tiny and vulnerable on the side of the road as life went blasting by with fatal force and blinding speed. How many wonders do I rush past everyday without looking or ever seeing? How many times I felt tiny and vulnerable...

2 comments:

  1. Memorize as much of the license plate as possible and brief description of the car. Call the police with the info. Very suspicious happening & unfortunately people are investigated everyday for just this kind of neglect.

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  2. you have already called and told me this story, but i really cant get over how concerned you are for those tiny girls. your so sweet

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