A Mother for Anna

In another city, natural affection is dying and children suffer:

The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon as they drove slowly through the near-deserted streets. They hoped to reach safety far from L.A. They avoided the freeways; they were too dangerous.

Marla saw a little girl sitting in the doorway of an abandoned store shivering in the morning cold. She was holding a baby wrapped in a dirty blanket.

"Dan, pull over," she said. Those kids look like they're in trouble."
"Is that wise?" he said. "We've seen looting already and no police around. We need to get out of here." "Please," his wife said.

He sighed. He knew that Marla wouldn't have that sense of urgency in her voice without a reason. Hunch? He didn't know. But he knew Marla had a sixth sense about things. He slowed down and stopped at the curb.

Marla got out of the car, bent over the girl and asked her "What's your name, baby?"
"Anna," said the little girl. "But everybody calls me Annie, except Kurt next door. He calls me dirty names. And this is Lannie," she said, nodding at the little boy in her arms.
"Have you come to get us? Momma said someone would come by to get us if she and Tom didn't come back. That's her boyfriend," she said in a rush. The words tumbled out of her mouth as she continued to shiver.

"They left us here and said they would be right back. That was hours ago. They haven't come back." She hesitated and then said, "They're never coming back." She started to cry.

Marla shuddered. She knew with dread certainty that the girl was right. She had heard of this sort of thing. With the hard times and increasing lawlessness, more and more children were being abandoned by parents who were broke, on the street, strung out on drugs, or just irritated with having to take care of a child.

Lannie woke up and started to cry. "Do you have anything to eat?" Anna asked. "He's hungry, I can tell. That's his hungry cry. I'm hungry, too. Connie is his Mom. She brought him over to us to baby-sit when she went to get cigarettes. That was last week. She didn't come back."

Anna continued to talk very fast as if she was afraid she wouldn't get it all out if she didn't. "I think Lannie was getting' on Tom's nerves with his crying. He kept yelling at him to shut up. He doesn't like me either. Said I was a pest. I heard him arguing with Momma about us. Said there wasn't enough to go around and he was sick of going without because of us. Got no cigarettes, got no beer, got no food because of us, he said.

"How old are you?" Marla asked. "I'm six and Lannie is 18 months old, I think," replied Anna. "Come with me," said Marla. "We've got some granola bars and water in the van. Here, let me pick up the baby. He's not really a baby any more, is he?"
"No, but he just started to walk a little while ago. I don't know if he's very well. He's skinny and cries a lot.

As Marla picked up Lannie, she was hit with a strong smell, worse than dirty diaper.
When she unwrapped him from the blanket, she noticed that he was not only in dire need of a diaper change, but both his little belly and backside were covered with festering sores.

"Oh, God!" she silently prayed, "what can I do to help this little one? Help me to know what to do!"
She carried Lannie to the curb next to the car and asked Dan to bring her some bottles of water, a roll of toilet paper, a towel, and a couple of granola bars.

Dan popped the trunk release and jumped out of the car. He dug around in the trunk until he found what was needed. He brought what Marla asked for, took one look at Lannie's sores and returned to the car for their first aid kit.

Anna watched all this intensely while eating the granola bar Marla gave her.
When Dan returned, Marla was finishing washing up the baby and then wrapped him in the towel. He was shivering, sobbing, and trying to eat the granola bar all at once.

She took a tube of anti-biotic ointment out of the first aid kit and started applying it to Lannie's sores. When she tried putting dressings over the sores, he jerked away and cried out, no matter how careful she was. By the time she finished he had cried himself to sleep, and she herself was crying.

She turned her tear-stained face to her husband and said "How could anyone neglect a child so badly?" Without comment, Dan helped her to her feet and put his arms around her tightly.

Anna held Lannie in her arms, looked down at him and then up at Dan and Marla. "You really love each other, don't you?" she said. The wonder and surprise in her voice brought tears to Dan's eyes and he hugged Marla even tighter.

"Yes, Annie, we do. Now if you want to come with us, we had better get in the car and leave." Annie brightened and said "Oh, yes. And I'm sure Lannie would, too.

Do you have anymore of those crunchy bars? They're really good."