Chapter 1
My 7-year-old daughter, Naomi, was sitting outside with some classmates waiting for their parents to come pick them up. Some who had older siblings went with them. As the parents arrived, bringing their children in groups, Naomi sat, wondering if her father had forgotten about her.
“Naomi, isn’t your dad coming today?” one of her classmates asked as she left with her mother.
Naomi was tired of waiting. She was very hungry; she hadn’t eaten all day because she didn’t like the food her mother had prepared and packed in her lunchbox. Naomi got up and decided to go home alone. She left school with her backpack and lunchbox. She started walking home alone, carrying her lunchbox.
After a few minutes of walking, Naomi’s lunchbox fell out of her hand and rolled onto the main street. She tried to pick it up. A car was speeding toward her. Someone tried to call her:
“Naomi! Naomi, stop!”
But he didn’t hear her in time. In his haste, the man driving braked quickly, but it was too late. Something terrible had already happened…
Once upon a time, there lived a couple named Bright and Sandra. After getting married, they weren’t lucky enough to give birth in time. It took them five years of crying and praying before they were able to give birth to their daughter, Naomi.
After giving birth to Naomi, they couldn’t stop thanking God for giving them Naomi when all hope was lost. One beautiful evening, after dinner and bedtime, Naomi was lying between the couple. Mr. Bright couldn’t stop looking at his little daughter and smiling.
“Tell me the reason for this smile tonight,” Sandra asked her husband, smiling back. “Who would have thought we’d be parents? Some… I hope you remember everything we went through,” Mr. Bright asked.
“Will I ever be able to forget it? They called me sterile. They mocked us for five years. I received different advice from different friends. Older women took me aside and tried to give me different solutions. Doctors had different things to say each time we consulted them. People always pointed at me as I passed by. Even some women at church made fun of me. They called me ‘the sterile blonde.’ I almost committed suicide after a woman told me to my face that I was a man and that was why I couldn’t bear children for my husband,” Sandra said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. That’s in the past now. God gave us Naomi and blessed us, our little bundle of joy,” Mr. Bright said with a smile.
“Her seventh birthday is next week. Our daughter will be 7,” Sandra said with a smile. They both stared at Naomi, who was sleeping peacefully. Then, Mr. Bright reached out, turned off the light, and said goodnight to his wife.
The next day, Mr. Bright was so busy with work that he forgot it was time to pick Naomi up from school. It was the weekend, and Mr. Bright was the one who drove her home on weekends. It had already been 40 minutes since dismissal, but Mr. Bright still hadn’t returned with Naomi. Sandra decided to wait a little longer, thinking it was traffic.
After a few more minutes, she became worried and called her husband. Mr. Bright was surprised that it had been almost an hour since Naomi’s dismissal. He begged his wife to pick her up quickly because he was still very busy.
Sandra immediately dropped what she was doing and headed to Naomi’s school. She was already 55 minutes late, and it took her another 15 minutes to get there. Sandra boarded a bus and, after only 5 minutes of traveling, got stuck in traffic. The traffic was so heavy that Sandra decided it was best to get off and find a faster bike, as cyclists always manage to weave through the traffic.
After walking briskly for a while, Sandra stopped a bike. She tried to get on, but then remembered she had forgotten her bag on the bus she had boarded earlier. Sandra didn’t know whether to continue to school or go back to get her bag. She asked the cyclist to leave while she went to get her phone, since it was inside.
Sandra started walking back quickly, looking for the bus she had boarded.
Meanwhile, back at school, Naomi was sitting outside with some classmates waiting for their parents to take them home. Some who had older siblings went with them. As the parents arrived, bringing their children in groups, Naomi sat, wondering if her father had forgotten her.
“Naomi, isn’t your father coming today?” One of her classmates asked her as she walked out with her mother.
Naomi was tired of waiting. She was so hungry that she didn’t eat all day because she didn’t like the food her mother had prepared and packed in her lunchbox. Naomi got up.
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