Innocence

One time late at night, I headed to a fast food place to grab some dinner. As I stepped in, I realized that the waitress gave me a grumpy face as they were about to close. I didn’t really care for I was starving to death and I knew it wouldn’t take me that long to get done with my meal. So I ordered my food and sat down on a table to have my meal. Being the only customer in the place, they didn’t really care about me and the waitress in charge started to clean up the place, with the grumpy look still on her face. Then all of a sudden, a smiley face appeared in the place. A girl of six stood in front of me, with her white floral shirt and pink pants, holding a wet towel in her hand. As I looked at her, she gave me a bigger smile and with all her strength started cleaning some of the tables. So dedicated in doing it, she was. So full of energy, although her shyness that I might be watching her. I turned my face away from where she was, pretending not to look. Once she was sure that I was watching her no more, her shyness and intimidation were gone. Slowly she fully regained her confidence and started to talk to her imaginary friends about how she’d make those tables the most shinny in the place. So attentive she was to accomplish her task. Once she was done, she looked at the tables with the pride Michelangelo probably had when he was done painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Then she turned to her grumpy mother and told her to see what she had accomplished. With little attention, the mother gave to her, she moved to the next set of tables and started again so attentively to clean them. When she was done, she turned to me and gave me another smile and although I could see the shyness trying to prevent her, yet she said, “Oh, these tables are wet because I was cleaning them, so take care and don’t sit on them.” I smiled back and told her not to worry and added that she did a good job. So excited, yet so shy, she gave me half a laugh and then turned her back and went on ahead with her new assignment. I followed her with my eyes and thought that if I’m only given one thing to pray for, I will pray for the innocence, the innocence of a child.