Sleepless in Houston

She knocked on my window, a little girl with tiny curls in her hair, the wind lifting it in all directions, a small bag in her hand and I wondered briefly if it could hold anything more than a few loose change. Her blond hair and pale pink skin contrasted with the bright green frock she wore, I judged her to be about four. She knocked a second time jerking me from my thoughts.

It was only a couple of hours earlier that I parked my car and off we went on our regular weekend shopping escapades. Found myself drifting from the group and finally was alone with my thoughts when I heard the shrill ring of the phone, who could it be? dropped a couple of packages trying to reach my phone which always seems to find its way right to the bottom of the bag, 972-189-2222, unfamiliar number, and then it stopped as it started, gladly this brought an end to my shopping spree and that's where I am, sitting idly in the car, waiting for the rest of the girls to join me.

I rolled down my window and she just stood there, staring blankly and then again the shrill of the phone, I told myself a hundredth time, that I needed to change the ring tone, reached for the phone from the side-holder and could see the same number flashing, received it and there was no response from the other side. 'Hello', I said, with a feeble voice, still no response, and then before I decided to hang-up the line went dead. Sat there, contemplating if I should give a return call back when a gust of wind hit my face. Oh, the little girl, she was still there, I switched off the AC and looked at her, and she looked back at me. I said 'Hi, How are you doing', No reply. Rolling up the window and ignoring her seemed like an option but there was something in her look, like she wanted to tell me something. She was clutching her purse tight and slowly opened it, her small fingers pulling out something, and the shrill ring again, I silently swore, and she looked at me, this time with a firm 'Hello', and I could now hear voices in the background and a booming voice, 'Lady I'd like to order a chicken chopsuey with extra dumplings and a side order of, he droned on. I cut him short with ‘wrong number’, Is this the chinese deli at Legacy, Plano he asked?, Wrong number is all I said before I hung up on him.

My attention all the time was on the little girl, she seemed to hesitate, then finally pulled out a chain with a cross pendant, instant recognition dawned on me, when she held out her hand to me with the chain, I felt around my neck, Where did you find it, I asked her?, she didn't respond. I got out of the car and took the chain from her little hand, she was going to run off, 'Wait' I said, I reached and pulled out the key from the ignition, opened the trunk with my eyes still on her. I pulled out a couple of shopping bags, when I found it, the five large chocolate bars, Nestle crunch, I read and handed over the bar to her, she smiled, a pretty little smile, bye I said, she ran in the direction of another car parked in the corner, with a silhouette of a man in the driver's seat. She got into the back-seat and He waved as they drove by.

This is the outcome of a sleepless night waiting for my offshore call…Pure Fiction