We split up into two groups when it was time for the rides. She took the teens and tweens, and Stephen and I took the younger ones.
They were excited about choosing which rides they wanted to enjoy "next" and took turns choosing which line they would get in.
When they saw the motorboats in the pool, they both decided they HAD to get in that line! (And it WAS cool--the kids got in motorized boats and got to drive themselves around a huge pool filled with about two feet of water. Perfect for their ages--six and seven.)
Stephen and I got them in line and kept a watchful eye on them.
The line, we noticed, was slow moving, but we weren't too terribly far back, so the girls were anticipating their turn.
In front of us, though, I noticed several ill-kempt children who all seemed to be together. There were two little girls and, as I recall, three boys in the line ahead of us. There was, standing to the side, mouthing the oldest girl, one of the most loathesome individuals I have ever had the great displeasure to acknowledge.
He was an older man, silver haired, with tough, wrinkled skin and a permanent cigar groove in his bottom lip. He appeared to have not shaved--or bathed, for that matter--in some time, and he was crude and disheveled, and absolutely disgusting in every way.
When I first noticed him, it was because he was mocking the oldest girl in front of us, telling her she was too old to ride a kiddie ride and he wasn't going to give her a ticket to go. The boys seemed oblivious to his comments, but the girls were huddled together, the oldest holding the youngest to her protectively.
The man made my skin crawl.
The more I watched the girls react to him, the more I "read into" the situation. Both of the girls were wearing "easy access" dresses, dirty and double layered. (Honestly, these children looked like they were at a casting call for the musical, ANNIE.) Neither girl looked at the man when he spoke to them--they looked down at the ground--and neither said a word.
"Here's your ticket," he thrust the ticket into the girl's hand. We knew from his jeering at her that she was 12-years-old, although she looked younger, unhealthy. His tone and condescending attitude toward her didn't change her mind: she accepted the ticket without a word. She said nothing at all, but stood in line, clutching her sister.
Then, this horrible man started talking to our girls. And that's when I motioned for Stephen to come over to the left side of us, to block this man from seeing or speaking to our girls or us.
As soon as Stephen moved over, the man cursed out loud ("Eff that!"--only he said the whole phrase) and moved elsewhere, out of our view, while the girls waited in line to get on the motorboats.
When it came time for the girls to get on the boats, I saw something in them I hadn't seen in the whole ten minutes or so that I'd stood behind them.
They smiled.
They smiled and laughed and had the biggest time of their lives on that boat, in those few moments they had together away from that man, away from the Reality they knew.
It broke my heart on so many levels. And as I stood there watching them, holding to my own two charges, tears streamed down my face.
Stephen looked at me, "What's wrong?" I shook my head. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked again, worried about me.
"It's them," I said, motioning with my head and eyes. "They're breaking my heart."
I felt so helpless, then, watching these girls. With a tear-stained face and damp shirt, I prayed over them, for God to protect them, lead them, guide them. That they would find a church they could call home and teachers, friends, and people to love them and invest in them and believe in them and encourage them to be all they could be, despite whatever obstacles.
I prayed for them, and I pray for them now. They have impacted my heart, profoundly.
We left the fair shortly afterward. I could not stay after that.
I haven't forgotten these girls, and I often wonder why God allowed me to see that. I felt so helpless. But I trust Him, that He will take care of them and lead me to help other girls and children, somehow, some way, in the future.
That is my prayer.
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Prayer: Lord, I know our steps are ordered, and I know that you put me there for such a time as that, to see what I saw and hear what I heard for a REASON. Lord, I ask you to touch those girls with your love and hope and Presence, even now, that you will lead Your people to these girls, that You will protect them and save them. Lord, I pray for the churches in their area to reach out to them, teachers, neighbors. I pray for Your light and love to be shown to them. And, Lord, if there is something I could be doing for these and other children, PLEASE GUIDE MY STEPS. I want so badly to help them. Please, Lord, help me to help others. I trust You. "Here I am, Lord. Send me!"
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