Oh My Sleeping Child

This is that scene I mentioned in the previous story where I said "it crushed my heart". I may have no basis for feeling the way I did earlier. But, I still want to tell you about it.

Here's the story:
I needed to sit down and wait for a wedding ceremony to finish, before I could enter the Palompon Church, lest I be tagged a gate-crasher or be accused of disturbing their vows!

This square fronting the church has (nicely done) sitting benches, so I thought of waiting it out on one of them. I walked to a vacant bench sensing that the one nearest me was occupied by someone who probably badly needed to snooze. Snooze? Here and now?

I looked again to see. OMG it was this child seemingly comfily snoozing on the bench.

I inched nearer to see if he/she was really just asleep or something was wrong. He/She was in deep slumber, though I could not tell if there was anything wrong with him/her.

From a distance, his/her position seemed to me like he/she had been grimacing before falling asleep (I could be making up stories in my imaginative lowly mind)! But nearer, that sweet innocent calm in his/her face made me believe, yes he/she was just sleeping.

But at 4:03PM on an open-air bench, in a concrete plaza, with no nearby trees, with noises everywhere, how can someone sleep that deep? Yes this was a gloomy afternoon, but it was still uncomfortably warm to sleep on such a bench. That bothered me a bit.

Ayan na, so my mind ensued imagining just about anything that could be a possibility. Yes, gumawa na ng kung anu-anong kwento (mentally lang naman), there being no available factual information on why was the child sleeping there...

This is not a vagrant or beggar's child. The red clothes were sparkingly crisp and clean. That footwear is, well, a high-end brand or at least a good copy of it. So, I thought this child must have been from a middle to upper class family with a comfortable home. But why was he/she sleeping there? Was he/she lost, cried until his/her tears ran dry and slept at that ench instead? A possibility, but oh how sad..

My being a process review 'expert' sometimes come to aid me... I noticed there is a space between the child's head and the edge of that bench, looking just enough space for a person to have sat there before the child went into deep sleep. Which could mean, this child has/had a companion? A parent, a guardian or relative? But where is he/she, and why leave the child like that?

Well, my only consolation was, "this is not metro manila", this child is probably perfectly safe sleeping on that bench, without being abducted by the syndicates and the likes.

Oh, deep in sleep, the little dear is still holding an empty plastic glass of what must have been a fruit shake. Why is he/she still clinging to it even in his/her sleep? All the more that I got bothered. In my mind, I was already cursing at the imaginary adult companion.

And I was seated at the nearest next bench, constantly looking ogling at this sleeping child. That reminded me, I was a visitor in this place, foreign looking (thankfully not caucasian), even still had my backpack on, and, old enough to be in the same physical profile of those pedophiles we sometimes see on the news! I sensed danger here.

I could be tagged as one such pervert eyeing the child. OMG Kulba! Good that wedding ceremony I was waiting to finish fortunately just ended... the bridal car just departed...

So, I dashed to get into the church!

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