What would you think if you see a little girl looking and going round in our
crowded city? That she's been lost, of course. So did the man sitting on the
nearest bench.
"Hey, little girl, did you get lost?"
As if an invisible bridge descended between the girl and the man. The little
Miss turned and went along this bridge, and her plaits with pink ribbons
were jumping while she was spinning her head to find the owner of the voice.
Across the bridge she saw an old man with an umbrella who was smiling nicely
at her. We could add this and that to the man's description but it was all
that the child noticed.
"Well┘ Momma┘ She disappeared! She was there", the girl raised shoulders
showing both astonishment and mild alarm. Then she stopped speaking and
started wondering how to call the unknown man - "sir" or "uncle". "Sir" was
more polite. On the other hand, he seemed to be a good uncle.
"I got lost too", the man smiled pretending guilty, "just like your mother."
"I was lost, not Momma", the girl explained in order to avoid any
misunderstandings. Obviously this uncle didn't understand.
"Oh, no, you are here and your mother isn't. So she's the one that has been
lost."
The kid was surprised with such an explanation but said nothing. Might be.
And that neutral form without "sir" or "uncle" was convenient for the
present. It sat down on the bench by the man.
"Well┘"
"Adults get lost too", the man guessed girl's thoughts, "there are so many
people around so it is very easy to happen. And only the bench remains like
a rescue island."
The little girl laughed. The uncle seemed to know her favorite game of
Robinson Crusoe - you sit on a bench and imagine you are on an empty island
and the sea is all you see when you look around.
"What about the umbrella? It's not raining now."
The man was going to answer that he was just foreseeing because there is no
guarantee where and when it will start raining. But he startled. He couldn't
say this. It was too prosaic explanation for a kid. Miracles, wonders┘ -
these are the things that children long to hear. He said nicely, "It's not
an ordinary umbrella but a magic one. If you stand under it with somebody
you'll become friends. Trust me."
The little girl looked at the uncle untrustingly. Was he joking?
In order to confirm his words the man opened the umbrella quickly and raised
it over them.
"Here it is! It doesn't take much time!"
The child looked up at the umbrella, then at the uncle, then looked around
and believed in his words.
Thus, in the good weather, they were sitting and talking like real friends
under the open umbrella, and people were passing by and watching them with
an interest.
"Mommy, mommy!" The little girl cried out joyfully and ran to her mother who
had appeared and obviously worried was looking for the child.
Smiling the child turned round and waved to the man. He answered the
greeting and stayed smiling under the umbrella.
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