Julie woke the next morning. “Thanks, Lord, I really slept well. Thanks for bringing Daya to provide food. I wonder if there are berries today?”
The Lord answered, Why would there be berries today? I have provided food for you in a new way.
She smiled and made a mental note to slip away later and check the bushes for herself.
It was late morning, and the group was together playing Paper, Rock, Scissors. Julie was startled when Praveen jumped up, pointed, and let out a yell. Fearing it was Mr. Shah she turned, but it was Daya coming with a large bag of groceries.
She walked to greet him, but noticed he was staring past her. She turned in time to see the last orphan disappear around the hedge.
“Now, what got into them?” She looked a little embarrassed. “I wanted them to meet you and of course to thank you for your generosity.”
He nodded.
“I bet they’re afraid of you because of Mr. Shah. Oh my gosh. You, the police, can arrest Mr. Shah. He steals children and puts them on the street to beg. He just snatched two boys. Three of our boys have escaped from him, and he cut off Kumar’s arm.”
“People like Mr. Shah pay bribes to the police to be left alone to do their dirty work. But I do not take bribes. I would like very much to meet Mr. Shah.”
Tears welled in Julie’s eyes.
Daya looked embarrassed.
“Well, I hope you can find your orphans. Enjoy the food,” he handed the heavy sack to her.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” was all Julie could say. She headed for the garden.
“I told you,” said Praveen. “My brother told me he had a friend who was 11, and he was taken by the police, and the next day my brother walked by there, and in the alley were his friend’s clothes. In less than a day they had eaten him.”
“Police are bad, very bad,” said Wilson. “It was the police who tore down my orphanage. My friend and I escaped, and then my friend died because of the police.”
Ravi’s brow furrowed. He tried to remember if his parents had told him things about the police. Then he remembered visiting with his mother’s friend in an apartment. A neighbor was shot, and he solemnly watched the police arrive and break down the door.
“It’s true,” shouted Ravi, “they ate my mom’s friend’s neighbor! They eat live and dead people!”
Several of the smaller girls clung to each other and Nilaya began to cry. Sammy inched closer to Ravi. The whole group startled when Julie’s smiling face appeared over the top of the fence accompanied by a cheery greeting,
“I thought I might find you here. Tell them, Ravi, that Daya brought them lots of food. Let’s go eat.”
“The policeman brought food. Auntie wants us to go back and eat.” At that point, Julie grabbed a bunch of bananas and held them up as evidence. That was all that Ravi and several of the other children needed, and they headed for the garden gate.
“Wait,” shouted Praveen. “What if the food is poisoned? They eat dead people, too. He could kill us all and then come for our bodies tonight.” His eyes narrowed.
The children looked at Julie’s smiling face and the food, then back at Praveen while they considered the risk. Hunger gnawed at them, begging to be relieved.
The bananas were wearing on Ravi’s resolve.
“Is the policeman still there?”
“No, but he’ll walk by later this evening to make sure we’re OK. Tell them to come, Ravi.” She walked away, carrying the food with her.
“He’s not there. Maybe we could just go back and maybe not eat or not eat much,” said Ravi. How much poison can fit in a banana? How much is needed to make me sick? To make me die?
The hungry, frightened group took several collective sighs and silently walked back. Julie had carefully sorted the food and laid it in piles in a row. Eleven boxes of juice, 11 sandwiches, 11 bananas, 11 apples, and sweets. It was more food than they had seen in their lives all together in one place.
“Ravi, tell them to line up right here. Girls first and then the boys. Then after I pray you can walk and take ONE piece of food from each pile. Close your eyes everyone.” She kept one eye open as she prayed, “Dear Jesus, thank You for hearing and answering our prayers. Help us never to forget that. And thank You for loving us enough to provide this food for us. Help us to love You back. And bless our new friend, Daya, the policeman. And keep Bhanu and Kumar safe.” Julie was giddy with excitement.
After a brief pause, when the orphans all looked at one another, hunger nudged them forward, and each child filed by Julie, who gave them a large dollop of hand sanitizer. After a quick tutorial on how to rub it in, they quickly grabbed food from each pile and sat down, but no one ate.
Julie picked up her food and took a big bite of her sandwich. After waiting several seconds, the orphans felt safe to eat theirs. When Julie peeled her banana, they all peeled theirs, too. She didn’t notice them watching her intently and following her lead. After she had finished all the food, she picked up her sweet.
“I’m stuffed,” she announced. “I’m saving my sweet for later.”
Praveen had pulled the wrapper off his sweet when Julie had picked hers up. With every ounce of will power he could muster, he carefully wrapped it back up and shoved it in his pocket. Some of the children groaned as they looked at each other, wondering if it was worth the risk. Praveen was one of the oldest, and he knew things other kids didn’t know—that policemen eat children. With great effort the children abstained from eating the sweets, all except Sammy, who had immediately popped his in his mouth when Julie reached for hers. All eyes turned to Sammy.
Chavvi pointed.
“Is he going to die?” asked Wilson.
“Sammy, you ate the sweet—it was poisoned!” blurted Madhu.
Sammie’s smile faded and panic filled his eyes. He coughed while pounding his chest in an attempt to bring back up the sweet.
“He’s dying,” yelled Wilson.
The panic in his voice caused Julie to look up.
“He’s dying,” yelled Ravi in English to Julie about the time that full-fledged panic overwhelmed Sammy. He ran in a big circle as fast as his limp would allow. He cried out in terror while flailing his arms.
A horrified look crossed Praveen’s face. It was poisoned! And when he tossed his sweet in the dump, all the rest did the same.
Julie caught Sammy and scooped him up in her arms, and he wailed louder. “Ravi,” screamed Julie over Sammy’s screams, “what’s the matter?”
“The sweet made him sick.”
“The sweet? He just ate it. Ask him what’s wrong?”
“It’s the sweet,” Ravi insisted, flinging his arms out for emphasis.
“Oh, for goodness sakes.” She turned her focus back to Sammy, who was still wailing in her ear. She bounced him and walked him, but nothing worked.
“Maybe,” yelled Ravi to Julie, “you could eat your sweet.”
“How would that help?” shouted Julie.
“It just would,” screamed Ravi. Since nothing else was working, Julie deposited Sammy on the ground, unwrapped her sweet, and ate it. All eyes were glued to her. Thirty seconds passed as the orphans observed Julie. Then there was a stampede to the dump to retrieve and eat the discarded sweets. Sammy’s wails turned to sniffles.
“Am I going to die, Ravi?” asked Sammy.
“No, you won’t die,” said Ravi, patting his friend on the back.
Julie was befuddled. The perfect lunch had turned catastrophic, and she had no idea why or how eating a sweet had redeemed it.
She looked toward Ravi, who shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. He wondered if she knew the policeman was their enemy. Why does she keep inviting him? Can I keep trusting her?
The children played together while keeping a lookout for Daya, who was supposed to return. Except for Sammy, who kept an eye on Julie in case she keeled over; then he would know to do the same.
Julie taught the children a rhyming song. “Touch your shoulders, touch your knees. Raise your arms, and drop them, please. Touch your ankles, touch your toes. Pull your ears, and touch your nose.”
The faster it went, the more the children laughed.
“Now do it standing on your right foot,” shouted Julie, laughing at their unstable attempts and especially her own.
What a change in these children. It’s amazing. The more the children laughed, the more she did, too.
It was Julie who spotted the muscular policeman first.
“Daya, hello! Look everyone, Daya is here!” But when she turned around, all the children were gone. If they had been wearing hats, they would have still been hanging in the air cartoon-style due to the abrupt departure.
“How was lunch?”
“Wonderful!” sighed Julie. Then he noticed the puzzled look on her face.
“Something wrong?”
“Well, I think the children still think you’re just another Mr. Shah. That’s why they run, but one of them thought he was dying when he ate his sweet.”
“Dying? Did he choke?”
“No, he’s one of the boys who escaped from Mr. Shah. He was convinced he was dying until I ate my sweet, too.”
“Strange.”
“Very strange.”
“I have wonderful news. I was able to locate Chavvi’s address.”
“Oh, Daya, that is wonderful news, better than wonderful.”
“It’s just a few kilometers away. I went by the house and no one was home, but I’ll take her now and stay with her until the family returns. Can you get her for me?”
“Wait right here.” Julie ran back to the garden where the orphans were gathered. She was bubbling with excitement. “Ravi, translate, please. Chavvi, I know your address. I know where your family lives.” Julie flung her arms above her head. “Thank You, Jesus! It’s a miracle; you’ll be back with your family today.”
Chavvi frowned as Ravi spoke, and then her face lit up with joy.
“My family, my family.”
“That’s right. Say good-bye to everyone, and then we’ll go.”
One by one the orphans all said their farewells. The girls hugged her, and the boys all spoke something Julie couldn’t understand. Sammy stepped forward and gave her a big hug and then stepped back.
“Let’s go, Chavvi,” Julie extended her hand, and the two walked back to the dump.
The children were still exploring their options for self-preservation.
“What if he eats Auntie?” asked Ravi.
“Who would take care of us then?” asked Sammy.
“She feeds us every day,” said Sapna.
“Who would protect us from being eaten next?” asked Praveen.
Sammy felt the anxiety building in his gut, and he began to wail again.
“I’m dying.” He collapsed onto the ground.
“You’re not dying,” said Sashi, kneeling beside him. “We all ate our sweets, remember?”
Sammy paused in mid-cry, his brows furrowed. After a few seconds, he accepted this logic and stood.
“Maybe,” said Wilson, “we should attack him the next time he comes, like we did Mr. Shah.” He still had memories of bashing out the side window with his walking stick. It had become a highlight of his uneventful life.
“But he brought us food. If we attack him, he won’t bring food anymore,” said Madhu.
“But Auntie always brought food for us,” said Sashi.
“But he brought more food,” said Madhu.
“OK, we won’t attack him now. Let’s see if he keeps bringing food. If he stops, then we’ll attack him,” said Wilson.
The sober-looking children nodded their heads in agreement.
“Let’s go see if he’s gone,” said Ravi.
Daya stopped by one more time that evening, sending the children flying back to the garden.
“Just wanted to let you know that Chavvi arrived home just fine. Her parents and sisters and brothers were all crying. I’ve never seen such a reunion. I almost cried myself.”
“Oh, Daya,” gushed Julie, “thank you so much. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that she’s safe and back with her family. You are truly an answer to prayer.”
“You might just be the answer to our prayers,” said Daya.
You were praying for a bunch of orphans and a grumpy, displaced American? “How’s that?”
“I can’t say; we can speak about it later. I’m here to protect all of you. Any problems?”
“You mean other than the fact that I’m in charge of all these children who live on a garbage dump, in the open, with no parents to return them to and no idea how to solve this dilemma?”
“Well, other than that?”
“Nope, that’s about all the problems I have today.”
Daya grinned.
“Well, feel free to lavish food and protection on us any time of the day or night. The children are always here,” she smiled, “except when you are.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning to check on all of you.”
“That sounds wonderful to me, but I need to get you and them on speaking terms. Maybe for a while you should only come at lunch when you have food, if that’s all right.”
“Sure. Then I’ll be back during my lunch hour with food tomorrow. Have a pleasant evening.”
Julie couldn’t wait to tell the children the good news. She found them having a serious conversation in the garden.
“Ravi, translate please. It’s so exciting,” she looked him in the face, and he smiled back, catching her enthusiasm.
“Daya took Chavvi back to her family today!”
Ravi’s countenance dropped.
“I, I thought, I thought you were taking her home like you did with Mahipal. You took him in an auto rickshaw! Why did you give her to Daya? Is she gone?”
“Calm down, Ravi. It’s wonderful news, he took her, and now she’s back with her family.”
Ravi turned and spoke to the orphans. Praveen cried out, “He’s eaten her, too. She’s dead.” A collective moan went up. Wilson gasped. Nilaya cried. A look of horror spread over Sashi’s face. Sammy inched toward Ravi.
“I thought you’d be happy for her. She’s with her family—her family. Tell them again, Ravi. They must have misunderstood.”
Ravi looked at the ground and spoke slowly, but the mood didn’t change.
“Well, I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like I’m on the outside looking in. I can’t believe you’re not happy.” Julie turned back toward the dump. Maybe they’re jealous!
Bedtime at the dump was a somber affair. There was little talking, and everyone seemed exceptionally skittish.
Ravi lay awake wondering if Julie was going to become another Mr. Shah and if there was anyone he could trust in this unsafe, unstable world.
Julie lay awake thinking. I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in the last few days. I’ve been from the depths of despair, losing Bhanu and Kumar and hearing the childrens’ stories, to total delight delivering Mahipal to his family and everything in between. And now we have Daya to help us, and my stomach is almost full. I’m so grateful and so tired, I don’t even have the energy complain about the heat.
And with that, she fell asleep.