His Small Angel

by Helen Dowd



He looked in the mirror, repelled by the sight, a constant reminder of his last fire-fight. 'Though he'd rescued a man, a dog, and a boy, his fame as a "hero" brought him little joy. For his wife had now left him for a more handsome man. She said, "Care of an invalid was not in my plan."

As he stood there bemoaning his unhappy state, he was filled with self-pity, with anger and hate. His dreams for the future now turned upside down, he limped to the park, on his face a deep frown. As relief for his mind, he sat down to read. To the movement around him he paid little heed. Then out from a group of some children at play a ragged young girl approached, her head turned away. Standing close to his side, her eyes to the ground, she stretched out her arm and said, “Look what I found!” She held in her hand what looked like a weed, all wilted and brown, its flower gone to seed.

The man growled in answer, "Just leave me alone. Get on with your playing, or run along home."

But the child was undaunted. "I picked these for you. They're awfully pretty, and I think you are, too."

The man was annoyed, for her eyes seemed to shift. He pushed her aside, refusing her gift. He thought that she mocked him, as others had done--the object of ridicule, the target for "fun".

And then something happened. God opened his mind. A new look he took: the wee girl was blind! He reached out and touched her. He patted her head; then accepted her flowers, although they looked dead.

His anger and hatred had started their melt. God's love, through this child, he knew he had felt. The man turned to thank her, but she wasn't there. She seemed to have vanished into the noon air. Although day after day to the park the man came, he never did see his small angel again.

But the child had awakened in him a desire to start a new life, to forget that last fire. He went to the hospital, where once he had been. He stood there and stared at familiar scenes. He watched the burn patients in their therapy. In some he saw anger, in some, agony. Remembering so vividly the pain he'd endured, he knew that the "inside" was the hardest to cure. From that moment on, he knew what he'd do. He'd help these folks heal. And his soul would heal, too.