Chapter 25: Hunger and fear
35'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'
Matthew 25:35-40, New American Standard Bible.
While Heidy helped the little girl upstairs, Joseph heated up some soup and cut a generous piece of homemade bread that one of the widows from the church had brought that morning to his kids. Sometimes, he felt like his kids had several grandpas and grandmas, as several old ladies in the church had the habit of acting as 'surrogate' relative to his children, either from one or for all of his children. He shakes his head as he remembers two patchwork duvets one of his church members sewed and given to Hope and Grace, right when they had just moved into the house, using several pieces of their old parent's clothes.
"This way, whenever you two fall asleep, you will remember them and know that they still love you, and they will still keep you warm, even if only through this," the old lady said, showing the delicate stitched fabric.
He warms up some milk and sets the table: bread, soup, some jelly and a tall glass of chocolate milk. He hears the splat of tiny footsteps followed by heavier ones on the wooden stairs and on the living room. He turns around and he is deeply surprised with the huge difference he can see in her: instead of the street urchin he collected in the precinct, he has before himself a gorgeous little girl with glorious curly hair, slowly dripping behind her back hanging past her shoulders, an angelical face with a cute button mouth and perky nose, but the most glorious feature were the expressive chocolate brown eyes which were currently looking at the food on the table with huge eyes.
"You hungry, uhm?" asks Heidy, smiling up to the reverend holding her little hand, which was gripping the older woman's in a tight squeeze.
The little girl tilts her head up to look at the blonde woman and nods, but makes no move to come closer the table. Joseph sits on one of the chairs and pulls the other before the food back, and starts pointing the food.
"I've heated the soup and it's cooling. Why don't you try the bread first?" He takes the slice of bread, puts a generous amount of jelly on it and offers it to the little girl. The little girl licks her lips, but doesn't approach the table. Heidy frowns over the little girl's shoulder, looking at the reverend whose face is the very definition of confusion. He knows the little girl is starving, but for some reason she is not taking a seat at the table.
"Come on, you can eat," as soon as he finishes speaking, the little girl latches on his arm and grabs the piece of bread, stuffing half of it in her mouth in just a few seconds, "hey, slow down, there's more from where that one came from." She glances at him and keeps chewing furiously, eager to stuff the rest of the bread into her mouth, but she slows down a little. She licks the jelly and her fingers, which are now smeared with it, and glances briefly at the soup but makes no move to approach the table.
Heidy then decides to take matters into her own hands and hooks her hands under the little girl's armpits, lifting her a few inches from the floor and guiding her to the chair, gently sitting her on it. During the maneuver, the little girl keeps taking chunks of the bread and stuffing them into her mouth, chewing and chewing it. Joseph takes the hot chocolate milk with honey and deposits it into one of her jelly smeared hands, guiding the cup to her lips. She takes a sip, her eyes becoming huge orbs at the amazing taste of it, and takes another huge sip of it.
Her reaction is not lost to the two adults, who feel their hearts constrict at the scene before them, as the little girl acts as if she hadn't eaten anything similar to what they are offering in a very, very long time. Joseph bites his lower lip and struggles to keep his tears at bay, sniffing lightly before getting the empty cup of milk of the little girl and putting a spoon in her hand, guiding it to the soup. She gets the hang of it very fast, and soon is stuffing spoonfuls into her mouth, while the other hand grips the piece of bread, almost crushing it into her little fist.
"If you want more, just gives a shout okay?"
The little girl doesn't pause, but nods lightly before stuffing another chunk of bread in her mouth and pushing it inside with her little fingers. Joseph indicates with his head that he wants to talk with Heidy in the living room, and both adults let the little girl continue eating.
Both adults sit, Joseph in his leather chair by the fireplace and the nanny on the sofa, where both can still see the little girl eating at a voracious speed.
"Who is she?"
"I have no idea," says Joseph, leaning back on the chair and staring at the ceiling, studying the white painting peeling in one corner. We need to paint the house again.
"Then why did the sheriff put her into your care?"
"Because I've asked him to. You see, she's the little girl who stole my wallet in Detroit."
The nanny looks at the reverend as if he's sprouted a second head, or as if he has just informed that he was actually from Mars.
"How? That was weeks ago. Are you sure?"
Joseph nods, and turns his head and sees the little girl licking the inside of the bowl and the back of the spoon, letting not even one drop of the soup remain behind.
"The same way I've recognized her when I saw her, she immediately recognized me as well."
"How did she get here?"
"That is a very good question." He glances at his watch, and is surprised at the time, "listen, go home. I'll put her to bed. You coming tomorrow too?"
"Are you going to keep her?"
Joseph freezes at that question, as of right now all his actions had been purely instinctive, but that's something to think about.
"I don't know. I have to talk to Maggie first."
"When is she coming home?"
"She's arriving tomorrow for two weeks leave, both Christmas and New Year's Eve. A friend of mine is coming with his brand new family, they have a small toddler, just one year younger than Matt."
"What about John and Faith, are they coming home for Christmas too?"
"Faith is coming on Saturday. John is not sure he can make it, he's still waiting for the authorization for him to have Christmas leave. Anyway, it will be a full house for a couple of days."
They hear the sound of something falling to the floor, and look up to find the little girl frozen with a deer in the headlights expression, the jelly jar on the floor in pieces and her face completely smeared with jelly, looking guiltily at them with a dirty spoon in a death grip in her hand.
Joseph sighs out loud, and dismisses Heidy, "go home, tomorrow will be a long day, I'll clean that up." He starts walking towards the little girl, but freezes at the absolute terror he can see in her eyes as he approaches her. "I'm just going to clean that, no reason to be afraid."
He slowly walks to the corner of the kitchen collects a broom and slowly approaches the little girl, who closes her eyes as he stands before her, shaking in fear, as if waiting him to punish her for unspeakable crimes. He slowly collects the glass shards and throws them in the garbage, cleaning the leftovers of the jelly on the floor with a cloth. His eyes on her face, he studies her with the same intensity when she starts studying him, as she opens her eyes and stares at him, with eyes filled with fear and defeat.