Donna Hill - For You I Will

“Take it easy. Take it easy.” She bent down and scratched him behind his ears. “I’m glad to see you, too. I’ll let you out in one minute.” She went to the kitchen window and pulled the curtain aside. Sometime during the night, it had rained and the air felt and smelled crisp and clean like freshly washed laundry. The grass and tree leaves still glistened with beads of water and morning dew. A great day to take some pictures. After she let Jasper out back and had her coffee, she would get her equipment.

“Jasper, what is wrong with you today?” He was jumping up and down on the door again and yapping like crazy. “All right, all right.” Kai opened the side door and Jasper raced out like a shot. She stood in the doorway for a moment, shook her head at her eccentric pooch, then went to the counter to finally pour her first cup of coffee. Just as she lifted the carafe and was ready to pour, Jasper went completely crazy outside. He was barking and whining in that high-pitched squeak that only little dogs can make.

Kai went to the door and opened it. She stepped out onto the porch. “What in the world is wrong with you? You’re going to wake up the entire neighborhood.”

Jasper continued to bark and whine and run in and out from under the house.

“Jasper! Come in here right now.”

Jasper planted himself in front of the porch with his tail banging rapidly against the wet grass.

“So what are you now, a television dog? You trying to tell me something? It better not be a raccoon. I’m warning you, Jasper,” she said as she climbed down the three porch steps. “What is it, boy?” That’s when she heard whimpering and the hairs on her arms rose.

She bent down from the waist and caught a glimpse of pink fabric and a little slippered foot. “Oh my God.” She scrambled down on her hands and knees and peered under the stairs. Tucked under her house was a little girl, curled into a tight ball. The full realization that a child was huddled under her stairs knocked her back on her haunches as if she’d been pushed. For a full minute, she couldn’t think. A million crazy thoughts raced through her head, none of which stayed put long enough for her to make any sense out of it.

Jasper ran under the house and tugged at the pink slipper. The little girl began to cry in earnest.

“What in the...” She lay flat on her stomach so that she could get a better look. “Sweetie, you need to come out, okay?”

The little girl briskly shook her head. Her thick ponytails, covered in leaves and twigs, flapped back and forth.

“Can you tell me your name?”

Silence.

“My name is Kai. And this is Jasper. Say hello, Jasper.”

Jasper barked uproariously and ran in a circle before settling down.

“I think you must be really cold...and wet. Do you want a blanket? Would that help?”

The little girl nodded her head.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you a blanket so you can warm up.”

Kai scrambled to her feet and ran inside, doing a pretty bad imitation of Jasper as she spun around in circles trying to think—she’d suddenly forgotten where she kept the extra blankets. Her heart kicked against her chest. Maybe she should call the police. No. Not yet. Her medical instincts kicked in. The first thing she needed to do was to make sure that the little girl wasn’t injured. Right. Blanket. She darted down the hall to the linen closet. She pulled out a light quilt, bunched it up in her arms and hurried back outside.

Jasper was standing guard. Kai got back down on her hands and knees and peered beneath the house. Bright, frightened brown eyes stared back at her.

“Here you go, sweetie.” Kai extended the blanket toward her and wished that she was small enough to crawl under to get a better look at the girl. A little hand pulled the blanket and she was quickly hidden beneath it with only the top of her head and her pony tails visible.

“I bet you’re pretty hungry,” Kai said softly. She thought she saw the child bob her head. “If you come out I can fix you something to eat and get you warmed up. How does that sound?”

No response.

Kai tried again. “My name is Kai. Would you tell me your name so I know what to call you? This is Jasper. Say hi, Jasper.” Japer yip-yipped and ran in circles. “Your turn.”

There was the barest murmur of a response. Kai’s pulse raced. “Jessie? Is your name Jessie?”

“Yes.”

Kai momentarily gave in to a moment of relief. “I bet that’s short for Jessica. Is it short for Jessica?”

“Yes.”

“My name is not short for anything. It’s just short.”

A soft giggle rose from under the blanket and Jessie pulled the blanket down below her nose.

“I was named after my great-great-grandmother. She was a Native American...an Indian. My name means ‘willow tree.’”

“My daddy named me,” came the tiny voice. “That’s what my mommy said.”

“He did a good job. Did your daddy and mommy bring you here?”

“Daddy did.” She sneezed.

“Bless you.” Kai had no idea how long Jessie had been hidden beneath her damp house, but she knew that the longer she stayed the more risk she had of getting sick or catching something. “Jessie, sweetie, now that we’re friends, why don’t you come on out before you catch a cold. I can fix you something to eat and then we can call your dad. Okay?”

Jessie sniffed, sneezed again but didn’t budge.

Jasper ran under the house and began tugging on the blanket, trying to pull it out and Jessie along with it.

This was crazy! She stood up, paced, ran her hand across her hair. Her gaze roamed up and down the soft rolling hills and across the tops of the fewer than half-dozen homes in the area as if seeking answers in the gray clouds that moved across the sky. What in the world was she going to do? She needed to call someone. The child couldn’t stay under her house indefinitely. She’d been trying to coax her out for nearly forty-five minutes. What kind of parent would let their child wander off like this? Her temper flared.

“I’m cold.”

Kai spun around and Jessie was standing in front of her. Her breath caught for an instant at the sight of Jessie’s tiny body that shuddered beneath the blanket, which was more on the ground than around her. Her wide, almond-shaped eyes were slightly swollen from crying. Leaves and twigs stuck to her hair, which was wet with dew and rain.

“Oh, Jessie, thank you so much for coming out.” Kai knelt down in front of her. The moist grass squished around her knees. “Let’s get you warm and fed, okay?”

Jessie nodded her head and didn’t make a peep of protest when Kai scooped her up along with the blanket and hurried inside just as the rain began to fall.

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