Chapter 41
Secret Service 1
Ulysses Dodd looked down at the serious girl frowning on his front porch step.
"I'm sorry to do this to you. I know it's such an inconvenience, but it really is an emergency!" her mother begged at the girl's side. She had no one else to turn to!
Her neighbor gave her a forgiving smile.
"It's alright. How hard is it to watch over a six year old girl? Go, take care of your husband."
The woman bid her daughter to be good. She'd be back with the girl's father after the doctors mended his broken leg. As she drove off, her daughter watched her go without a trace of emotion on her face.
The African-American man bend down to the girl's level, trying to put her at ease, "Now, Marty was it? What do you like to do?"
He expected an activity typical for a little girl her age like playing with dolls or tea party.
"Fishing," she said with a soft lisp.
That was unexpected.
He gave a warm grin. "I think we can do that."
Ulysses spoke to her of the elusive Old General, and how he hooked him once but the wily fish escaped at the last second. The man gave an inward shout of joy as he managed to get the girl to crack a smile after his story. What kind of life did she lead to be so sad all of the time?
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"I hope she wasn't too much trouble for you," the gruff man said hobbling on a set of metal crutches a few hours later. "Lord knows she can't do a thing at home."
Ben frowned at the man's insult. The daughter practically disappeared into the wall.
"Marty was just fine, just fine. A perfect angel."
Her father only snorted. "She's a girl. They're nothing but trouble. She chopped off all of her hair just a few days ago. You have any sons, Ben?"
Ah, there in lied the problem.
Marty's mother gave her excuses claiming the need to let her husband rest. Again she thanked the man.
He bent down to Marty's level giving her a fond smile. "I had a great time sweetheart. You come and see me anytime."
It wasn't long. With her father stuck at home with an unwanted daughter, the insults blistered the air.
The girl appeared on his doorstep, a granola bar clutched in her hand and tears in her eyes.
"How about we split that bar out by the lake?" again giving her an easy smile.
The doctor had been lecturing the older man on his high sugar levels, but Ulysses ignored the advice. He had been taking care of himself for 40 years now. Besides, a crying girl was always a good reason to bend the rules.
They watched a lovely sunset as she gradually confessed her woes.
"Daddy just cares about boys, so I cut my hair off. I even joined the summer baseball team but he never went to a single one of my games."
She had been good too. The coach raved about her accuracy with a pitch. Still her father ignored her.
Ulysses sighed. "Sometimes my dear, you could move the entire world and the other person can still not notice a thing. I don't think your father will ever see what I see - how great and wonderful you are."
Marty stilled letting the words sink in. It hurt. Her father would never love her as much as she did him. Ulysses' last words though. All her life she had been trying to get her father's approval yet Ulysses freely gave it after only a few days of knowing her.
She turned and gave him the brightest smile, one to rival a thousand lakeside sunsets.
"Do you want to see if Old General can escape from the both of us?"
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Birthdays, graduations - her friends always wondered who the older man was in all of her pictures, dark in contrast to her fair skin.
Throughout all of the milestones in her life, Marty could claim that, besides the One in heaven, her "father" had been by her side for every single one of them.