She was waiting for him when he got there, bruises on face, bundle in tow. He didn’t recognize her. Why would he? She was just one of many. Nameless, faceless, irresponsible wenches; whose babies he’d single-handedly managed to save. Each representing a jewel in the crown that Christ would one day bestow upon him.
He strategically positioned his signs; alongside the road at the entrance of the driveway, where passersby could view, as well as anyone come seeking services. He was particularly proud of his newest acquisition; a six foot mini-billboard, sporting a larger-than-life African American toddler; holding a toy in one hand, a smile that would melt the hardest of hearts and a message that read simply – “I was Saved from Death by Adoption”
She stepped forward, arms outstretched in offering. “You gotta take her cause I can’t keep her.” He looked at her strangely, “Pardon me?” She quickly looked down into the sleeping face; wrapped in the pink and white stripped blanket they’d sent her home with from the hospital, then back at him.
“My mama done kicked me out and my boyfriend beat my ass. You told me everything would be alright; when I came here that day to get rid of it. But everything ain’t alright!” He looked at her dumbfounded, “Surely you don’t mean me to….”
“Listen mister, you stuck your nose in my business without being asked. You preached a good sermon of guilt when my mind was made up. I done knew the day I came here that I couldn’t raise no baby. I ain’t got no job and now I ain’t even got no place to live.”
He reached in his bag and pulled out a pamphlet; the same one he’d given her that day; listing all her available options along with several choice Bible verses, threatening hellfire and damnation.”Here, take this. There’s a number on the back you can call for special services.”
She shook her head and thrust the baby into his arms, “I used all the money I had on bus fare to get here. I ain’t got a phone even if I wanted to call. I got nothin…don’t you get that?!”
The baby started to cry. His eyes grew wide with fear and his hands began to tremble. He started to protest; something he’d been doing publicly for the past fifteen years; but she was having no more of it.
“You wanna help? You wanna stand here and judge people when you don’t know nothin about their life or what brought ‘em here in the first place? You gonna stand here and pretend to care; claimin you’re doin the work of the Lord? Then you best be ready to back up that claim! You cared for this baby enough to save from death when she was in my belly, well now she’s here and she ain’t got no one that can care for her. No one but you!”
She didn’t wait for a response, but quickly turned and ran up the street, got to the corner and vanished from sight; leaving him with an unwanted child and choices to ponder; none of which he asked for, and none that would come easy.
Tags: abortion, adoption, choices, death, judgment, Life, observations, perception, personal freedom, preaching, pro-choice, pro-life, reality, unwanted pregnancy
