A woman decided to approach a boy she saw sitting alone at the bus stop because he looked sad; little did she know the encounter would turn her life around.
Clara Mitchell was feeling impatient, and the foot she rhythmically tapped was a clear indication of it. She had gotten on the bus a full 30 minutes before, yet the woman had not reached her destination, and it was getting dark.
When the bus eventually pulled into her bus stop, Clara quickly got off. It was seven in the evening, but it was steadily getting darker and colder with fewer people roaming the street.
She stopped at a nearby cafe for a hot cup of Americano, but as she walked, her scarf came undone and was carried by the breeze a few meters away.
“Just my luck,” Clara muttered, then went scurrying after the scarf. However, as soon as she bent to pick it up, she heard a noise that sounded a lot like sobbing coming from behind her.
Clara immediately looked around her, and her eyes landed on a boy who sat crying at the bus stop. “How come I missed him?” she asked herself as she shuffled through the snow towards the shabbily dressed boy.
When she got closer to him, she noticed that he appeared frail, and her heart immediately went out to him. She took a good look around the bus stand for people he may have been with, but she saw nobody, so she decided to approach him.
“Hey, little kid, what are you doing here all alone? Where is your parent?” she asked gently.
Clara got a glimpse of red puffy eyes when the boy looked up at her — he looked upset, and his puffy eyes told her he had been crying for some time.
“My father died when I was a baby,” he answered between sobs. “I only have my mom now but I can’t find her. I’m looking for her. She’s supposed to be here.”
“Did she tell you what bus she would take or when she would arrive?” Alexis asked. “If you have her contact number, I can call her for you.”
“No! Don’t do that,” he exclaimed. “It might take a while before she comes. When she got ill, she handed me over to my guardians here. She also promised to come and meet me soon, but she never did.”
Clara could not believe her ears. The boy was saying he missed his mom, but she seemed to have abandoned him. Why would she do that? Clara thought, confused. And he looks so frail and sick!
When she realized the boy had gone quiet, “So, you came here with someone to search for your mom?” she asked, concerned. The boy shook his head.
“No, It’s because I escaped from my foster home and came here,” the boy said, wiping away his tears. “I begged them to tell me several times when my mom would arrive but they just avoided my question, or gave the usual response which was that she’d be there soon. She never came back for me, so I decided to track her down on my own.”
“I see,” Clara said with a sigh. “Need any help locating her? I could be of assistance if you want.” At that, the boy’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed excitedly, “Can you really do that?!”
“Yes I can, but first you’ll need to stop crying and wipe those tears away. Your mom would be very unhappy if she saw you going around like that,” Clara said. “After that, we can go to the cafe together and you can keep me company while we have hot chocolate and cheese sandwiches.”
Filled with the promise of food, the young boy wiped his tears away then smiled. “Oh, I’d love that. But will you really get me some?”
“Yes, I would,” Clara replied, a smile on her face. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“My name is John,” the youngster said, smiling.
“John, that’s a nice name. Would you like some cookies?” Clara remarked as the two walked into the nearby cafe. While the boy ate, Clara couldn’t stop staring at him. What a poor soul, she thought sadly. It looks like he hasn’t been fed in days. Is he really safe at his foster home? she pondered.
Clara was so lost in thought that she did not notice John catch her staring intently at him until he voiced out, “Why are you staring at me that way? Do I have something on my face?”
“No. I was just thinking about when to start looking for your mom tomorrow morning. But for tonight, it’s getting cold and you’ll fall sick if you stay out.”
“But what if Mom shows up but we aren’t there to meet her?” John wondered, hesitant.
“Don’t worry, John. I’ll let the cops know about your mother so they can track her down. Why don’t you give me your address so I can drop you off at your house?”
“No!” John shouted, his eyes going wide with fear. “I’m not going back there! They don’t give me food and when I ask for my mother, they beat me! Please don’t take me back there!”
“What? Why did you keep this to yourself before?” a stunned Clara asked. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you go back there. How long has all this been going on?”
“Ever since mom left me with them,” John admitted. “I didn’t say anything because I was afraid you’d make me return there. But now I know you’re nice and you won’t take me back.”
Clara felt her heart skip a beat at his tender words. He was in trouble, that much she knew. Therefore that evening, unable to leave him on the street to take him back to the abusive home he escaped from, Clara took him home with her and decided to call the cops the following morning.
Late at night, when the boy slept, Clara sat by his side, watching him and thinking about how cruel life was to him. At some point, it even occurred to her to keep him with her, but when morning came, she did the right thing by calling the cops and telling them everything.
Thanks to John’s statement, his unruly guardians at the foster care were caught and arrested; however, unfortunately for the boy, his mom had passed on. She had been diagnosed with cancer but could not afford the treatment, so she passed some months later.
John was still too young to process that sort of news, and when Clara took him to the doctor for a general check-up after getting mistreated as he’d been, the doctor informed her that the boy was just a hair’s breadth away from getting traumatized. News of his mother’s death could tip the scale and cause harm. Because of this, Clara decided to wait for some time before revealing the truth.
For Clara, finding John had been fated. Her husband had abandoned her because of her barrenness, and the time she spent with John made her realize how much she still yearned for a family.
To that end, she decided to adopt him. It took a couple of months to sort out the paperwork and other procedures then John moved in with her permanently.
He was happy he was getting treated well, but the boy never stopped asking about his mom and when she would return. He also wondered about her reason for adopting him, but he had no answers.
To keep up the ruse, Clara would write him a letter every year in his mother’s name, telling him how she was getting treated in a different county and had asked Clara to be his mother until she got back.
She was determined to keep the charade up until John was old enough to process the truth.
