Miss Anna

Every day she sits at the one busy intersection in town and watches the cars go by. Except for today, it’s always the same yet it’s always different. She notices everything.

Today there is a little boy clutching an overstuffed backpack sitting on a bench. He is clean and his clothes appear new. That is the good thing about small towns. The people take care of their own. She has no people but she feels safe here.

Slowly, she works up the courage to go over to share the bench with him.

“It’s a pretty day to skip school.” She says with just a hint of a question.

He says nothing but his eyes dart. The expression on his face shows that he is rapidly asking himself if he should be afraid.

            Neither says anything for awhile. They are just watching the day together. She somehow knows that she cannot be the one to break the silence.

            “I am not skipping school. I am running away.” He finally volunteers.

            “I see. I ran away too and look how I turned out.”

            For the first time, he turns to see her. He looks at her dirty clothes. He notices how painfully thin she is and wonders if it is because she has no food. Everyone talks about her so he knows who she is. Then he realizes that he has never heard of anyone who said that they actually spoke to her. They only about abut her not to her.

            “Do you think you are ready to live on your own?” she asks.

            “Yep. I’ve packed a bag. I made a list of all the things that I would need. I figure I can get a job to get everything else.” His remarks are so confident and smug. She smiles at this.

            “I’m sure you have thought of everything. Can I look in your bag? I’ll let you know if you missed anything. Seeing how I have been in your shoes before.”

            He looks at her with curiosity.

            “You mean that you are not going to tell on me or try to talk me into going home?”

            Shaking her head for emphasis, she replies. “Oh, no. I couldn’t do that. I can’t tell you do something that I didn’t myself. That wouldn’t be right. No, that wouldn’t be right at all.”

            He pushes his nap sack over to her without a word.

            She unzips the bag slowly and gazes in. She examines each item that she takes from the bag, considering the usefulness of each.

            “Let’s see what we have here. A Harry Potter book. Good to keep up with your reading. A math book. Oh very wise to keep up with your studies. Toothbrush. It’s very important that you don’t neglect your teeth. I don’t have any left because I forgot my toothbrush when I ran away. Looks like a change of clothes. A peach and some cookies. Ah so you won’t starve. I can tell that you did put a lot of thought into your packing. Are you sure this is all that you need? Not many jobs for a 9 year old boy.”

            “I’m 10 and ½ thank you and I can do stuff. Lots of stuff. My dad taught me how to do lots of stuff.” He said indignantly.

            She threw up her hands in surrender.

            “I didn’t mean to imply that you are of no use. May I ask why are you running away if you have such a great dad?”

            “You wouldn’t understand.”

            “Try me. I’ve been around and I can understand all sorts of things.”
“My step mother is having a baby. They won’t want me around once the baby is here. I’ll only be in the way. They are going to have a new family and I’m just a leftover.” He struggles not to cry.

            “I see. This I understand. Did you hear them saying this? Were they talking about what they were going to do about you?”

            “No but I can tell that’s what they were thinking. Especially her.”

            “Are you running away to live with your mother then?”

            “My mother is dead. She died when I was a baby. My step mother is the only mother I have but she won’t want me once she has her own.”

            They sit in silent contemplation for a few minutes.

            He reaches into his bag and gets himself a cookie and then offers her one as well.

            “My name is Seth. What’s yours?”

            “You offerin’ me a cookie?” She asks in surprise and takes it gently, touched by this small act of kindness. “Anna. I’m Anna.” She takes a bite. “Mmmm. This tastes like its fresh baked. Not store bought.”

            “My mom makes them for me.” The he quickly adds. “I mean my step mother.”

            “I see.” She nods.

            Once again they resume their silence. Each temporarily lost in their own worlds. Each is enjoying a moist chocolate chip cookie.

            She finishes chewing her last bite and brushes a few stray crumbs to the ground.

            “Let me see if I got this right. A great dad that does lots of different stuff with you and teaches you all kinds of things. Teaching you to grow into a good man.” She nods her head as if she is agreeing with what she is figuring out as she talks. “And you have a mother that takes care of you. Cleans your clothes and bakes you cookies. Yes I can see why you feel that you have to run away.”

            His voice thick with tears he mumbles, “But they are having a baby. They won’t want me around any more.”

            “From what it sounds like to me, I think they are counting on you to be around. Your parents will need your help with the baby. They will need you to be the big brother that you never had. Think of all the things that you will get to do. I know that if I had had a big brother I’d have stayed at home.”

            He looks at her suspiciously.

            “I thought you said you weren’t going to try to talk me into going home.”

            “I didn’t say that at all but I think it’s a good idea. I haven’t had a fresh baked cookie since I left home. I am just thinking that you seem to have it pretty good and that the new baby will only make it better.”

            “You think so.” Then what little control he had over his tears was lost and he sobbed openly.

She patted him on the shoulder in an effort to comfort him but wouldn’t get any closer.

“Yes. I think so. How about this? You go home and give this whole big brother family thing a try. If it isn’t all that you think it should be. You can come back here and I’ll help you decide where you can go. Deal?” She held out her hand for a shake of agreement.

He takes a moment to consider what has been said. “Deal.” He said as he took her offered hand.

He wiped his face on his sleeve. “I guess I ought to head home.” He smiled for the first time since he sat down.

He collected his things and started walking back in the direction that she had first seen him coming from. She didn’t say anything but she was also smiling, proud of herself for doing a good deed. Then she sees that he is running back to her with something in his hand.

He held out the sandwich bag with the rest of the cookies in it.

“Here. I have someone that will make more for me.”

She smiled back as she took the offered cookies. This time it was her eyes that held back the tears as she watched him leave for the second time.

Then he stopped again and looked back over his shoulder at her.

“Thanks Miss Anna.” He called as started again.