The little girl

"Why did he do that?" the little girl asked her mother.

"I do not know" her mom replied "sometimes people just do mean things"

The little girl bowed her head for a moment, looking down and pensive, deep in thought, when she lifted her head she had a small smile on her face. "Momma, I can make sure he is never mean again if you'd like?"

Her mother looked down at her and smiled "Honey you don't need to, it's just part of life. Don't you worry about the mean people".

The little girl looked at her mom again, once more deep in thought, a pucker formed between her brow, as if the thinking was some how hard. Then she tipped her head sideways just a little, almost like an acknowledgment and walked on a bit more with her mother.

They came upon a homeless man, sitting on a corner, sign asking for money in front of his folded legs. Torn clothing hanging off of him in tatters, smelling of ages long sense past and memories no one else would know or want. His teeth were covered in stains, rotten in places and gone in others. His eyes milky from long years of use. Despite his decrepit condition, his smile was big, containing nothing but warmth. The woman leaned down and dropped a 20.00 into his hat, smiled and said god bless you. The man thanked her and told her god be with you as she walked away.

Once again the little girl looked deep in thought. Her head slightly tilted. She turned around and looked at the old man, staring intently at him, then asked her mom. "Why did you give that man that money?"

Her mother replied "Because he needed it more then we did and I had enough money so that I could spare it".

The little girl looked on thinking again, then asked "How do you know he needed it more than we did?"

Her mother replied "His sign asked for money because he is homeless" to this the little girl replied "but how do you know" the mother responded "I do not have to know, I just trust that God puts me where I need to be at the right time"

The mother turns down another road, and walks up a set of stairs. She stops before a set of double doors. Dark brown wood, with deep set stained glass windows. They are beautiful, a brilliant blue sky, birds flying amongst the clouds and a deep emerald field of waving grass. She unlocks the door and enters the house. It's a nice home. A town house, with beautiful antique furniture adorning each room. Each piece had been lovingly selected and handed down from mother to daughter, to daughter again.

Momma the girl asked "Why doesn't daddy live with us?'

Her mother sighed a deep sigh of weariness "You know why he doesn't. It's just the way our world works. We do not live together with the men".

The little girl smiled her odd little smile again, looked hard at her mother and asked "But why don't we live with the men. You helped that homeless man, but you won't let me see my daddy."

The mother looked hard at the little girl knelt down beside her and whispered "That homeless man was lucky, He chose to never love a woman. You see dear one in our world when a man loves a woman and they decide to have children they can no longer be together."

The little girl tipped her head once again thought about this some more then asked "Why can't they be together if they have children, and if they have children why do I never see any other ones around?"

The woman knew that someday this question would come, she had hoped that it would be closer to the end of her of time, near the beginning of the little girls cycle of life. This was the part for every mother that could be dangerous. This was why she envied that homeless man, and any other man or woman out there who had chosen to not have children, to not continue their heritage. It wasn't that she didn't love her daughter, she loved her entirely, but that love came with a great price. The ultimate price.

Their world was not all beautiful like the stained glass window. It once was, but the darkness had come and the price for the light was the trade off of life. Every cycle the woman and man must mate, then like the spider in it's web the man must die, leaving the woman to raise the child by herself. If there is more than one child, if it is a male he must go to a special home for the male children, where fatherless men helped raise them so that there would still be men in the world to help procreation. The woman would raise the girl child or children until they came of age. At which time the woman must then give up her life so that the child could have children of her own. This child however was different. Somehow her father did not die at birth and somehow they had managed to keep this hidden from everyone. Someday she would be told, but until she could handle the truth, she could only be told the story of their history.

So the woman sat down in a chair, pulled her daughter up onto her lap and told her the story of their lives. Knowing that someday she would have to explain that her daddy and brother were safely hidden in the basement of the house, where they lived, only venturing out at night. Someday maybe they could all be together. Someday, but not today.