Her doe eyes blinked, and the spell was broken. I smiled into a cup of hot chocolate two booths down from the girl with the wavy, fawn-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Little ringlets curled over her forehead like stray clouds in a clear sky. She was a precious young thing of perhaps 4 years. She was going to be a difficult assignment, but I was more concerned for the one assigned to her mother. She was going to have an even harder job. I sighed into the whipped cream floating on my cooling drink, focusing on the girl's vibrance. She was describing her picture, done in bold crayon on the paper placemat, to her mother.

"Time is coming, Celetine," I said to the matronly brunette across from me. I wiped away the tear in the corner of her veiled green eyes. These cases were so hard on her.

"I know, Aziel. Its for the best, but… so hard, so hard on the ones left behind. I'll be ok." She lifted her sleeve, daubing at her eyes in a resigned way. She'd have her strength together in time. She always did. The mother was going to need her.

Two booths down, the little girl bundled her crayons into her small hands, putting them neatly into a little cloth bag that she clutched tightly. Her mother took her other hand and led her out the door. Celetine and I were out the door just behind them, and walking silently down the sidewalk. My eyes were fixed to the girl, skipping along. I had to chuckle as she paused at each sidewalk crack and hopped over it. She didn't know yet that breaking her mother's back was the least of concerns.

At the end of one big jump, near the intersection, the bag of crayons swung out and flew from the girl's hand. At the same time her mother dropped the girl's hand to get bus fare out of her purse. The bag arced down into the street just past the gutter. The doe-eyed girl stopped suddenly, agape as the bag crunched to the blacktop. She squealed and lunged after it, arm outstretched, wide brown eyes fixed on her brightly-colored prize. The girl took three quick steps and bent for the crayon bag, not looking up until it was safely in her hand.

"Hannah!" her mother screamed in sync with the screeching tires. She tried to dive after her daughter a moment too late, deflecting of Celetine's shoulder and down to the pavement. Celetine was already stooping to attend to the hysterical woman, now childless.

I shed my human seeming, and was visible to only one person now. I stepped over to the sobbing child. Her eyes grew huge as she saw me, and she immediately flew into a string of apologies. I picked her up, holding her tight, soothing away the tears.

"Ssshhh. It's ok, Hannah. Give your mom a kiss, dear. You'll see her before you know it. I promise, and you'll have brothers and a sister to meet later, too."


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