The Girl

Quinbi was devastated. It had been days and still there was no help offered. The government appeared to be mired in debate. Endlessly they discussed the ramifications and procedures on how to deal with this issue. Meanwhile, lives were lost on Ta’ Bough. The newspapers had splashed her story on all the front pages, but awareness had moved nothing.

She was sitting on the steps of the government building waiting, waiting, waiting. The population of Babalonia swarmed around her, all happy, comfortable, safe. It was so different from the home she had left.

Her eyes filled with tears at the memories of her family in the happy time. She longed to get back to her island to die in the place where they had. Her failure to generate help for her people threatened to crush her. She couldn’t breathe.

“Are you ok?”

The soft voice made Quinbi jump. Through her tears she could barely see the young Dwarfish girl. “No,” Quinbi whispered. She was able to slowly take some deep breathes.

“What is wrong?” The girl asked with the innocence that is only found in children.

Quinbi looked at the girl, she was possibly 7 or 8. She was dressed in fine clothes and looked happy and well fed. Quinbi had no wish to burden this innocent one with the pain she struggled with, “I miss my home.”

“Is it far?”

And on and on they talked. The little one asking simple questions and Quinbi answering in similar simple fashion. Finally, the girl stood and handed Quinbi all the coins in her purse. There were three. “To help you get home,” she said smiling broadly.

Quinbi hugged the girl, “This will help so many people in my homeland. Thank you.” The weight of failure began to crack as she rolled the three coins in hand. 

The girl ran away happily convinced she had done something wonderful. She told her friends and soon returned with more children. They all handed over the coins in their pockets. Quinbi was overwhelmed by these children’s generosity.

She was collecting quite a horde of small denomination coins. Though Quinbi understood the reality of the massive amount it would take to meet the need, she still felt these children with their coins were making a great impact. As if they were throwing their coins at the Taker, inflicting great damage. Quinbi couldn’t wrap her mind around this illogical notion but decided to rest in this good moment.