Magnolia

Scaled and Icy

Josh was tired. But, it was a good tired. He and Tyler had just finished a show in their hometown. He was ready to go relax a little before they got back down to working on the next leg.

He'd taken most of his stuff off the tour bus already and was just heading to his car when a noise by the gate caught his attention. Someone tossed a bag of garbage out of their car and literally peeled away.

"Hey!" Josh said, running towards the gate. The bag was literally in the way of any car trying to get out of the venue. And since he was ready to leave that meant him. And he didn't want to run over a bag of garbage. Who knew what was in it?

He picked up the bag and it's load shifted. Not uncommon for a bag of trash, he guessed. As he dragged the bag to the side, he swore he heard a whimper.

"Someone did not throw a puppy away like trash," he said to himself.

He ripped open the bag and indeed, someone had not thrown out a puppy. Someone had literally tossed a child in a garbage bag!

Josh looked at the small form peering at him from the bag. She was a tiny girl, curled up and trying to curl up even smaller.

"Hey," Josh said quietly, soothingly, as he reached towards the thin framed, big eyed girl. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl looked at Josh. There was fear in her eyes. Her eyes were darting around as if she were looking for a way to escape.

Just then, Josh heard a voice behind him.

"Josh! What are you doing? Sifting through trash?"

The girl reached out and clung to Josh's leg, the only place she could reach from her place on the ground.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. That's Tyler. He's my best buddy. He's good. He won't hurt you either. Come here," Josh put his hands out and the girl took them.

"Can you stand up?" Josh asked, trying to pull the girl up. She couldn't seem to get on her feet.

"I'm going to pick you up, okay?" Josh said, letting the girl know what he was doing.

"Josh!" Tyler called out again, and this time, the girl buried her face in Josh's shoulder with a whimper again

"Tyler, shush!" Josh called out.

"Who is that?" Tyler asked, coming up to Josh and the girl.

"I don't know. Someone literally just tossed her out of a moving car! In a trash bag!"

"Is she okay?"

"I haven't had a chance to check. But I think I'm going to take her to the hospital and have her checked out. See if we can't find her parents or something.

"Want me to come with?" Tyler asked.

"If you want. If Jenna won't be upset."

"She won't be. I'll call her and explain. Take her to Nationwide Children's. They're good and, they're a children's hospital."

"Really? With the word "children's" in the name, they're a children's hospital?" Josh smirked.

"Smart ass," Tyler said, trying to get a look at the girl. She kept her face buried in Josh's shoulder. Josh rubbed the girl's thin back. She was dressed in thin pyjamas. Light cotton. Too light for this cold night at the end of October.

"Ty, grab my sweatshirt off the passenger seat of my car? I'm gonna wrap her in it. She's freezing," Josh said, trying to cover as much of the girl as he could from the wind that had kicked up.

Tyler returned with the sweatshirt and Josh was able to coax it on to the girl.

"There we go. Nice and cozy. Let's go get you checked out, okay?"

Josh carried the girl to his car. He was shocked at how light she was. If he had to guess, he'd think she was maybe three years old?

Josh tried to put the girl down in the back seat, but she wouldn't let go of him.

"Okay, you're not really supposed to sit in the front, though kiddo," he said. "It's a law or something. And I don't have a child's seat for you. Please, sit back here?"

The girl refused to let go of Josh.

"Okay," he sighed, getting carefully into the driver's seat with the girl clinging to him. "We'll try it your way. Luckily the hospital isn't too far."

Cautiously, after putting the seatbelt around himself and the girl, Josh pulled out of the lot and onto the street. He prayed he didn't encounter any police. Then he prayed he did, because then they could take the girl and figure out what was her story was.

As they drove, Josh felt the girl stop shivering, and felt her whole body relax. He looked down at her at a red light and saw she had fallen asleep.

Josh smiled. Whatever her story, she sure was a cute kid. Someone had to be missing her.