Cry, my beloved people

Dream Part 57

"Sorry, " Gertrude sniffed, " but it was like a heavy black blanket that I couldn't lift from myself on my own.  One day I was walking that path again.  I thought I might be able to picture what Thandi was thinking when she walked with that villain.

It was as if somebody took my hand and told me to look up.  The church was standing out above the houses on the left side of the road.  I suddenly felt an urge to go there.  I went inside and sat down on the hard wooden church bench crying.  I prayed to God to show me the way.  I couldn't understand why something this awful could happen to me.  There was no way I could get over this on my own.

The priest saw me and came to me.  He tried to comfort me, to no avail.  It just made me cry more.

Then he said: "Alas, the only way to stop this, is to create a safe place for our little children.   A place where they can be taught measures to help them to avoid things like this to happen to them.

I've been thinking about this for a long time.  I need the help of women who are willing and able to work with small kids and take a firm stand against cruelty to children.  They must be trained to work with children.  We can use this piece of ground next to the church for a playground and classrooms."

I shook my head vigorously: "that won't bring my Thandi back," I said tearfully.   I couldn't bring myself to think of other kids, while my Thandi was dead and buried.

"It can't, but it can save other kids from the same dreadful pledge as Thandi's.   I know that it is hard for you to think about it, but will you at least consider it, please?"   It can be the start of something special in the memory of Thandi," he said

I looked at him through my tears, the tenderness in his voice when he pronounced Thandi's name, stirred something in me.  It convinced me to promise him that I should at least think it over.

That night I dreamt that I was lost in a very dark forest.  I could see nothing. I walked into the bushes and shrubs in the dark.  I had a child's hand in mine.  All I could think about was bringing her to safety.  I was scared, choking in fear.

Suddenly I saw a bright light and I knew there ought to be a house.  The next moment I was in the house.  There was a woman, preparing lots of food.  I asked the child, how we got there?   She answered: "You were amazing, you kept walking, fearless and stopped for nothing."   I thought that it must have been God Himself that took over because I could only remember my fear.

Then the woman with the thick lips said: "Lots of people don't get a lifeline or opportunity that they need desperately, all because of fear.  If they can just take that one step, that can change their life.  That step was your's to take and you took it."

She gave me a dainty cupcake that was still in the pan and told me:   "Don't stop now, there are lots to do, take this out of the pan and don't break it."

I wavered a moment, then she insisted: "Take it."   I carefully lifted the cupcake from the pan, without breaking it.

The next day I could think of nothing else, but the dream.