An Angel In Disguise

The rain had finally stopped. And the streets were starting to get busy.

Yet the poor little girl was still asleep alone in the dumpster.

A woman who was working in the bakeshop nearby took out the trash of her store in a big plastic bag and was headed into the dumpster. She was busy though and had to throw the trash quickly. She threw the trash, but did not notice the little girl that had fallen asleep. She closed the cover and had quickly gone back to her store.

Not long after, the little girl woke up. The first thing she did was arrange the pages of her books- one by one, until she noticed the plastic bag beside her. She was hungry and had to look for something to eat. She opened the bag and rotten smell filled the air. She pinched her nose and dug unto the trash. There were spoiled and molded croissants, but they were not good to eat. She found an unused plastic bag. She decided to use it as her bag to carry her books. As she dug deeper, she found a bread in a good condition. It looked like it had just fallen unto the ground. She swept the sugar off the bread and wiped it clean. Without a doubt, she took a bite of the bread and again and again, in short period of time indicating she was really famished. She satisfied herself and then packed her books into the plastic bag, and went out the stinky dumpster.

She had a long deep breath into the fresh air of London's morning. She carried the bag on her shoulder and went on her way to somewhere she didn't have any idea where. Now her goal is to find a shelter that is not smelly nor filled with rats.

She spent her whole morning wandering the streets. She ended up in a park full of little children like her playing kites and having picnic with their families. She was a little bit jealous for she had never experience such things.

She sat on a bench watching the people enjoying the day beside a tall man with dark eyes, in his mid 30's. She got a book from her plastic bag and began to read a loud. The man beside him was amazed of how fluent she was in reading!

"You are still quiet young to read!" the stranger beside her stated.

She looked at the man and replied, "I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you!"

The man took off his hat showing his dark- colored hair. He then smiled and asked, "You're still four? Five? Yet you know how to read?"

"Yes, and if you're going to ask again who taught me, well no one! So stop bothering me!" she replied feeling irritated.

The man was surprised of how this petite young girl addressed him. He was surprise in a good way because he find it amazing and peculiar. He wanted to know more of the girl and her parents.

"Where is your parents dear?" he asked.

"I just stated "no one" already, didn't I? "No one" taught me so basically I have no parents. Who would not teach their children to read and write? Well may be some but rare, like 1 out of 10. And mister if you're going to ask why I'm here alone, well let me answer you, "because I left my foster family" and if you're going to ask why, "well it's none of your business. So can I continue to read now?"

The man was more surprised. He smiled and was speechless. He though found the girl interested. He is a professor of a University and he had not encountered such smart child. He thought that her level of intelligence is surprisingly way advance.

"Care for a lunch?" he asked.

The little girl did not respond. She looked at the man and closed her book. She then placed it inside her plastic bag and finally spoke, "I had never been in a restaurant before, what is it like?"

The man laughed because of how the little girl reacted. He put on his hat and offered a hand to the girl.

She was happy to take the offer. Finally, she could taste some real good foods. He was indeed a stranger but a very kind stranger though.

So they walked together into the next corner of the street where a restaurant was located.

They sat and had a warm lunch. The man was just smiling while staring at the little girl who quietly devoured all the food that was served on the table. He could see how famished she was.

"What is your name?" the man asked.

"What's that?" she asked curiously before drinking her glass of juice continuously.

He laughed and nodded. "I mean, what do they call you?"

She stopped for a moment and thought. "Little brat!"

The man laughed and said to himself, "What a funny kid!"

"I heard you, you know! I'm not joking. My former- step mom used to call me Little Brat. Is there something wrong? Well, yeah it's a curse word but it's a name and it's mine!"

The man lost his smile as he assumed she was abused by the family she left. He felt horrible for the child. He must have realized how hard things were to her, that's why she was acting such way. He also thought that love was denied from her and so she learned almost no manners to her elders. But he has the more experience of the world and so he should be more understanding to his little friend.

"How about I'll call you Gen! Besides, you're a gen-ius!" He raised his eyebrows waiting for her reply. "What do you say?" He smiled.

"Whatever! Great! I'm full." she said.

The man was so amused by his little friend. He had never acquainted such person before. He wanted to take care of her and decided in adopting her. He was aware his little friend is not that easy to tame, but he still had the guts to ask her.

"Little Gen, I'm Carl and I'm a professor." He offered his hand for a shake.

"Nice meeting you Mister Carl! What's that hand for?"

He smiled and pulled back his hand as he realized she was smart but she is not good in socializing.

"Little Gen, do you have anywhere to stay?" he finally asked.

"None, unless you'll offer some!" she replied genuinely.

"Well yes! Do you really have nowhere to stay? Nor guardians? You can live with me and I'll be your guardian and you can call me dad! What do you say?"

She smiled and replied, "I was abandoned Mister Carl and had to be given away and ended up in the hands of a cruel woman. But you really mean so?" Then Carl nodded yes. He noticed the joy on her face and it made him smile. "Well thank you Mister Carl...for everything! But I'll call you Carl!"

She stood from her chair and carried her plastic bag and she walked into the door. She stopped as she noticed the man did not follow her. "What are you waiting for? I'm excited for my new room! Come on Mister Carl! I'm excited!"

The man smiled and stood and placed a tip. He walked into her and held her hand. Then they walked out of the restaurant.

"We're not going home yet. Let me buy you new clothes first!" he said as he changed direction.

And so they went to a nearby small boutique around the next corner.

She was so excited as it was her first time to buy a new dress! She was used to wear torn clothes from grown ones of her step siblings.

"This is nice! Would you like to try it?" Carl asked as he picked a nice red dress.

"It's nice but can we buy a pair of shoes first? Please? My feet are getting cold!" She looked at her bare feet.

Carl took pity and brought her to a nice shoe store. He let her pick her own shoe of choice. Gen was amazed by the beautiful shoes displayed and could just not believe she's going to wear one of those. She picked a nice pair of shoes paired with them white socks and put them on. She just couldn't bear the cold anymore.

"Thank you!" She hugged Carl tightly.

Carl smiled and looked down to see his little friend being grateful. He was talking to a petite girl, and had to bow down to look at her.

"Now let's go back for that dress!"she said as she jumped out of excitement.

"All right! All right! Wait I have to pay!"

They went back for the nice red dress they were planning to purchase. And again, she couldn't wait and change her old ragged chemise into the nice red dress. It has a big bow tie behind that she liked the most.

She looked at herself in the mirror and had the biggest smile as she saw her own reflection. She did not regret trusting the man whom she just met a while ago.

The man also bought her a new back bag so she can carry her books in the most convenient way.

From an abandoned, ragged girl, she was transformed into a well- clothed young lady.

They bought ice cream and sat back on the bench at the park where they met. Carl had let his little friend answer some Math equations and the result was amazing. She answered everything without a sweat. Carl was so amazed with her because she was just naturally genius. She was so advance in her very young age. He was planning to bring her to his friend, a Math Professor in the same university he was teaching. But now, he must get to know her more.

"It's getting dark. Let's go home!"

She jumped of the bench excited with her new home. She just hope she won't be sleeping in the attic again.

She entered her new home- a small apartment where Carl lived. It was small and has small space but she did not mind. She has roof over her head, and there was no reason to complain.

"Here's your bed for the meantime. I'll sleep on the couch until we can buy new one!"

She smiled and sat on her new bed. Then she stood and jumped in joy shouting, "This is so soft!" She was very glad that she could finally sleep in a soft bed. She was used to sleep on the ground with nothing, so it was new to her.

It had been a long day for her and she was exhausted. She lay down on her bed and tried to close her eyes. But because there were a lot of things in her mind, she just couldn't shut her eyes nor sleep. She stood and opened her window a little bit to let air come in. She then came back to her bed, but she still couldn't sleep. She was planning to approach her new guardian who was watching television in the living room, and ask for milk. She thought it could help her sleep.

She was determined though and stood up and sneaked out.

She opened the door of her room slowly and quietly and peeked to see Carl. She saw Carl eating pop corns with his feet on the table. When she opened the door a little bit more, it made a squeaking noise. She grinned thinking Carl noticed her. But when she looked at him, there was no reaction. She assumed Carl did not noticed, or may be had fallen asleep. When she took a closer look, she was right. Carl had fallen asleep as she could see, he had lost grip of the box of pop corns he was holding.

She swept off crumbs of pop corns on the couch and sat beside him. It was not long after Carl had awaken up from all the movements. "Hey! Why are you not asleep?" he asked the girl who was sitting beside him, watching television.

She looked at him and replied, "I can't sleep. Can I have some milk? Please?" Carl stood up and went into the kitchen. He heated some milk from his fridge to serve to his friend. "Here!" he said as he handed the glass of milk. He sat back on the couch and hid himself under his blanket and placed his feet again on the table. "Pop corns?" he asked. "No! I'm good!" she replied as she was about to take a sip of the milk.

There were silence for some minute until Gen spoke, "Why did you take me home?" "Why would you ask that?" he asked. The little girl did not respond and continue staring at him. "Well, you're a good kid, and besides, I always wanted a child of my own but I'm just too busy to find my own woman!" The little girl smiled and lean her head on his shoulder. "Take me to the university tomorrow!" she said. "Tomorrow! But for now, go to bed and sleep!" He turned off the television and removed his feet from the table.

The little girl went back to bed and Carl in the other hand, covered himself with his blanket and lay down on the couch.