An Angel In Disguise

Beside the linen hanging out to dry, a young girl trudges with a basket full of sheets that she has cleaned. Her head is bent to hide a tear she does not want to cry. Although in summer’s heat, she’s feeling spent, it’s not her work now troubling her soul. Her mother’s had to work hard every day and leave the children by themselves till night. There is no outside help; the mother tries to raise a brood whose father passed away. Her sweetest child, red-haired and oh so wise, does much to make her mother’s burden light. She knows her mother needs to get some sleep. An old soul, she sees all and rarely cries, but while her brothers run free in the sun, she drops her load and simply starts to weep. Grief flows till she resumes her role - the one that is the family’s angel in disguise.