This story is about a teen age girl, with her infant son, who is homeless in a large city. On a cold freezing night she feels helpless, hopeless and lost as she walks across a bridge. What will she do?
The Angel Of The Bridge
****Setting***
A freezing winter night on the outskirts of a large city. The wind is whipping by bringing below zero temperatures with it. A desolate bridge at the edge of the city where icy and deadly water below beckons a lost soul, who thinks there is no hope left.
The teenage girl became faint as she watched the water sway below her beckoning her as she stood there on the bridge. The walkway was slippery with freezing ice. The temperature was well below zero. The baby whined and she held him closer. He only had her and she had nothing and nowhere to go.
The streets were their home. They had been bearable until the cold winter set in. Three days had passed and she was very weak from not eating. She didn’t know what to do. The girl had tried several agencies, but in a large city she seemed to be one of thousands of young teenage mothers with nothing but her child….
She had lost all hope as she approached the bridge realizing there was only one thing to do, end it all. The bridge seemed to pull her to it. She could almost hear a voice saying, ‘Your worries will be over and you child will never be hungry again.’ As she stared at the water below her, she continued to hear those words. She began to believe them and adjusted her child over her shoulders to easily climb over the rail. The baby whimpered and the girl felt tears of hopelessness fill her eyes. She could not help her son she knew, but she could stop the terrible hunger he was feeling.
She started then to climb over the rail and as she did, she heard a voice near her say, ‘It is a sin to take your life. Jesus forgives our sins, if we ask. How can you ask to be forgiven after you are gone?’
She looked around to see a man standing near her. His voice had been very calm, very gentle. He wore only a grayish suit and hat to ward off the freezing wind. Yet it did not seem to bother him. She could not see his features, yet he seemed so kind. ‘Just over the bridge is a church where you and the child can take shelter.” He replied.
The man reached out a helping hand to the girl and offered to carry her son for her as they crossed the bridge to the other side. There nestled against several trees with light glowing from its window was the church, just as he had said.
The man and the young girl walked to the door, their tracks being the first to touch the fresh snow.
At the door the man put the baby in her arms. Still the girl could not make out his features. The hat he wore was pulled low on his forehead. She watched as he knocked on the door of the church. It was only a moment or so before the door was pulled open.
There a man and woman stood. They both looked at the girl and the baby she held with concern in their eyes. The young girl thought quickly there was something about them. She knew immediately she could trust them.
It was then that she turned to look over at the man who had helped her, hoping he would speak to the man and woman for her. To her surprise he was not there. She turned frantically around looking for him, knowing he could not just go away in the moment that the door was opened for her.
“I’m Pastor Reed and this is my wife Clara” The man in the doorway spoke. His voice reaching the young girl who quickly turn back to them, looking very bewildered.
“Are you alright? Come in out of the cold child.” The woman said quickly noticing the girl’s dismay.
“He was standing right here next to me.” The girl replied. The man and woman looked at each wonderingly.
“I’m sorry, no one was here when I opened the door but you and the child. Come in its very cold out.” Pastor Reed insisted.
Clara Reed reached out to take the girl’s hand. She placed her hand into the woman’s and began to follow her into the church. Then she stopped suddenly to turn and stare back at the way she had come. There were footprints on the fresh fallen snow. There was only one set, hers. The man had disappeared. She glanced at the bridge thinking, he must have been an angel. The angel that watches over the bridge. As she walked into the church, she thanked God for the Angel of the Bridge.
From the Caribbean Sea to Machu Picchu in Peru, and from birds to flowers and butterflies, Reflections and Treasured Wonders offers a collection of images gathered from around the world.
The Angel Of The Bridge
