[3]No one Was There

Often when Evelyn took her mother lunch from the school offering, a train would pass headed out of town. She had never been beyond the boundaries of Natchez but believed there had to be more to life that what she knew. 

Returning alongside the railroad tracks from the box factory one fateful day, Evelyn decided she was not going back to the shanty. She could not bear another night of the secret life she was suffering. In the tormented mind of this eleven-year-old girl, she surmised the train would take her away to somewhere…anywhere.

Anywhere would be better than here.

So, she sat down on the tracks to wait for the train to carry her to safety.

As Evelyn waited, the tracks began to tremor.

Not moving, she looked ahead to see the headlights of a locomotive coming toward her. With great anticipation, she patiently waited for escape to a new life.

Just as the train descended upon her, she was thrust from the tracks, down the embankment, and into the ditch below, knocked unconscious. The train continued its journey without notice of the young girl who had nearly lost her life in a desperate attempt to find her life.

Rain began to fall and continued into the night. As the moon brought light to the darkness, Evelyn awakened from her ordeal to find herself lying in a mud-soaked ditch.

Cold. Alone. Bewildered.

Looking back at the track, trying to remember what had happened, she whispered aloud, “Someone pushed me from the track, but no one was there.”   

~~~

The enemy would have won another soul that day had the Lord not stepped in and rescued my mother. According to God’s divine plan, the journey toward the new life she sought was underway.

More to come…