In all, there were seven children- aged 1- 12. The mother looked exhausted, her wrinkled sweatshirt stained from dishing food for all of the children. The children were all blond haired/ blue eyed, except for one- the only brown girl in the bunch. As her siblings gobbled up their food she turned her chair to face me, and watched me as I ate.
This happens to me often- small children, babies even stray dogs (!!!!!) will gravitate toward me. I don’t know why, I mean- I love children (dogs too) but it is always strange when they come to me and they don’t even know me.
We kept making eye contact- she would smile- she was no older than 3 or 4. Her mixed heritage hair (like mine) was a whirlwind of nappy curls, piled atop her head by a mother who obviously didn’t know what to do with it. (I’m sure pink moisturizer is not even in her vocabulary- and Juices and Berries SHOULD BE.) When I looked at the rest of her children I had to wonder what happened with the little brown girl? 3 older children and three younger children were white and the middle child was obviously mixed with black or hispanic. I didn’t want to keep staring so I looked away but every time I looked up, the little brown girl was looking at me.
When it was time for them to go, the mothers gathered the children- and the little brown girl walked away, looking back at me the entire time. Perhaps she was an old soul, who knows? I just know- that being the only brown girl in a family of blonds- she certainly does not have an easy road ahead of her.
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