“Come in!”
Silence. “Darlene must have stepped out,” he whispered to himself.
“Come in!”
Still nothing.
John went over to the door and opened it.
“Oh did you say come in?”
The noise from the street usually kept anybody from actually hearing anyone inviting people to come in so John wasn’t really surprised that he hadn’t been heard. John recognized Anne and asked her to come in. It wasn’t difficult to tell that Anne had been crying. John hugged her like the brother that he saw himself to be. He handed her the box of Kleenex as she sat at the table.
“I don’t know what to do,” Anne barely got the words out before she broke down in a fit of emotions. John could not tell if it was sadness or anger that spurred this on. He allowed the silence of the moment as she gathered her emotions. Years ago he would have asked prying questions or would have guessed at the problem and offered a wide array of solutions. Now he knew better.
“Be present, John,” he told himself and watched her hoping that his eyes were showing compassion.
Anne looked up, wiped her eyes gently. Her eyes were red now. John tried not look at her eyebrow ring. “I don’t think that was there on Friday?” John tried to remember. “Yeah, that’s new,” he thought.
As Anne gathered herself, a look of shame overflowed in her countenance.
“Anne, you know that God loves you.”
Anne remained silent, but kept her composure. Her face no longer showed simply shame but also betrayed a look of doubt.
“He said that he loved me.”
“Who?”
“Mark. He said that we should get back together for the baby. We spent all day Saturday together and it was great. But then after he dropped me off here and went and got wasted.”
“Baby? Where did that come from?” John tried to remember if he had heard anything about children. “Maybe she’s pregnant? I’ll need to come back to that.” John tried to hide his look of surprise but apparently failed.
“I’m having his baby. I just found out on Friday. I need him to stay clean and sober, get a job and take care of us.”
“Is this your first?”
“I had an abortion a couple of years ago. I was thinking that I should have another one if I can’t depend on Mark.”
John’s heart felt like it was breaking at the very thought of this. She was just 18 and was tossed into such a difficult situation. “At 18 she should not have to decide between life and death. So much pain here, Father, help me with the right words to say here.”
“How long have you known Mark?”
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