Chapter Two

She sat and glared past me as if I wasn't there.

Chapter Two

Eric sat on a park bench overlooking Mission Bay. He stared at the sand beneath his feet. He didn't seem to be handling the situation very well. Eventually he got up and slowly walked to his car and drove away. He never spoke a word. I had a bad feeling. Call it an ominous premonition.

Sarah stood alone by the side of the road, watching as the ambulance carrying her mother's body disappeared over a hill.

I walked up beside her and looked into her pale blue eyes. Her chestnut brown hair draped down over her shoulders. She was a pretty girl, almost radiantly so.

"I'm so sorry about your mother," I said.

She stood silently, looking off into space as if looking past me. I felt as though I wasn't even in the picture.

I turned and started to walk the mile back to my apartment. I hadn't gone far before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked. It was Sarah.

She looked at me with a confused look on her face and asked,

"Where am I supposed to go? Do you know mister?"

I looked at her curiously. There was something about her, something different, something very childlike. She certainly didn't seem like any 18 year old girl I had ever met.

"What's your name?" I asked.

Looking down she mumbled,

"Sarah."

" Sarah," I said, "That's a real nice name."

I shifted back and forth uncomfortably and said,

"Well, Sarah, my name is Tom. Don't you think it would be a good idea if you went home?"

Looking at me she whimpered,

"I don't know where home is. I get lost a lot Tom. My mom, she always took me everywhere. But now, I don't know what I should do."

We sat down on a park bench and looked at each other,

"Hmm," I began, "this is quite a dilemma."

"Uh huh, quite a dilemma," she repeated.

"What's a dilemma Tom?"

I looked up, I wasn't sure how to answer.

"A dilemma is a problem you don't know how to solve."

"Oh," she replied.

With a sad look on her face she asked,

"Am I a dilemma Tom?"

"Hmm," I thought, "Kinda'... yes. I mean, the dilemma is this, Miss Sarah...what are we going to do with you? I would take you to your home, but I don't know where you live.

So, Sarah, what am I to do?"

She looked at me and gave a look only a helpless little child could give.

 Meekly and softly she replied,

"Well...um...I could go with you. You could take me in, couldn't you? I'll be good, and quiet too. You won't even know I'm around, and I'm a real good cook too."

I sat there thinking how ridiculously impossible the entire notion was. Who would keep an eye on her while I was off at work?What if she caught the place on fire and was killed, or what if she let some stranger in who robbed us of everything and then molested her.

No, I could not take on such a responsibility, it would be impossible. 

She handed me a piece of paper. It was a card from the mortuary. 

Well, at least I knew where to find her mother's remains. If I went there I could find out where Sarah lived.

Then it struck me, the funeral arrangements, who was going to take care of that? This dilemma was getting bigger by the minute.

I had the strangest feeling about my future. My carefree lifestyle was over, or at least, numbered in days...short days. I didn't feel like I was ready.

"What's the matter Tom, do you have a dilema?"