Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: SMILE (08/13/20)
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TITLE: Milliam | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
08/17/20 -
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The child brushed away a rotting cabbage leaf from the face of the infant and jerked back. A hideous cleft palate left a gaping hole where supple lips should have been. The girl gently scooped up the wheezing orphan as the dog sniffed inquisitively at her find.
Angel was the oldest of four and at the age of ten took responsibility to care for three siblings as her mom recovered from a night entertaining truckers at the nearby saloon. Feeding another mouth, especially one like this, overwhelmed her. She hesitated outside her cardboard hovel and chose to deliver her prize to someone who could be a wet-nurse.
At the first home a woman chased her away with a broom. “Take that devil’s spawn back where it came from. Don’t bring your curses down on us.”
At the second, an old toothless woman shook her head and said “I have nothing to give such a child.” She pointed up the hill toward a large cement block structure. “Take it there.” It was the very place her mother had warned her never to go. A place where pale-skins ate children.
As she stood helplessly outside the walls with her pup and her treasure a woman arrived behind her. “Hello,” the woman said. “What have you brought today?”
Angel held out the gasping bundle. “Oh, my!” the woman replied. “The doctor isn’t here right now but you have come to the right place. Do you want me to take this little one from you?”
The woman took a paper towel and rubbed off the slime, dirt and blood before bundling the newborn up in a shawl. “You can come inside with me,” the woman said to Angel, “but your dog will have to stay outside.”
Angel’s knees buckled as the gate opened. A security guard scooped her up and carried her inside. Her throat closed as she tried to protest and only a fierce huffing escaped as she hyperventilated. A smiling pale-faced woman approached her with a paper bag and everything went limp.
When Angel woke, a woman in a white uniform stroked her hair and dabbed a cool cloth on her forehead. “Hey, little one,” the nurse said, “we have your little sister cleaned and fed. Did your mother send you to us?”
Angel shook her head. “My dog found her in a garbage ditch. I thought he might eat this one. I have three brothers I have to feed already and this one cannot eat.”
“You are a brave little girl for bringing her to this place.” She pointed toward a picture of a smiling child on the wall. “This is a special place where we can fix children who have troubles like your little one so they can smile. I guess we need to name your little sister.”
“She is not mine,” Angel said. “She belongs to God.”
“So she does,” the nurse said. “You remind me of another little girl who looked after her little brother when he needed help. Her name was Mariam.”
“I like that name,” Angel said. “Milliam. We will call her Milliam.”
The pale-faced woman arrived with a little blanketed bundle and laid it on the bed next to Angel. “Here is your little sister. She is fed and is sleeping. Can she rest with you for a while?”
Angel nodded and propped her head up to watch the little one. “She is Milliam.”
The nurse nodded. “Since she is God’s child now, I want you to know what will happen to her.” She gently rubbed the sleeping infant’s cheek. “There are people praying right now that God would give them a special child. When she is older, we will fix her lip so she can smile and then we will get her ready to be part of their family so they will smile.”
“This is a good thing,” Angel said.
“And then do you know what is the best thing of all?” the pale-faced woman asked. “God will see what you have done in rescuing Milliam and he will see what we have done in fixing her lips and he will see what the family is doing and He will smile.”
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Thank you, well done.
Blessings~
Blessings~