Toothpaste.

1. Toothpaste

"Shit, do we have toothpaste?" was an everyday saying in the Morgan/Kennedy household.

Every six weeks or so, as the old tube was beginning to run out, Lilibeth Kennedy would say to her fiance; "shit, do we have toothpaste...?

Sticking his toothbrush in his mouth to free up his hands, Edward Morgan would plod over to the cupboard that went from the floor to the ceiling, and stood in the corner of their shared bathroom.

Unenthusiastically, Ed would open the cupboard door and respond with either "yesh" or "uh... No." his speech slurred by the toothbrush hanging from his mouth. He would then close the door and trudge back to the sink, taking hold of his toothbrush again and resuming brushing.

But on this particular morning, as Lili exclaimed "Shit, do we have toothpaste?" and they went through their usual routine, something stopped Ed at the cupboard. His toothbrush hit the floor with a few loud taps as his mouth fell wide open, hands dropping from the door handles to his sides.

"Lili, can you come here for a minute?" his eyes stayed trained on whatever it was that had peaked his interest.

"What is it?" She asked, as she came and stood beside him.

"Look."

"Jesus Christ!" Lili yelled as she jumped back, grabbing onto Ed's arm to stabilise herself. "What do we do?"

In front of them, huddled under a shelf in their cupboard, sat a small girl with dark skin, tattered clothes and muddy wellington boots, who couldn't have been older than five years old.

What do we do indeed.

"Ed, do something!" Lili urged, pushing her fiance closer to the shaking child.

"She's terrified, Lili, look at her, she's shaking!" Ed whispered. "Poor thing..."

He kneeled down in front of the tiny creature and looked her in the eyes. Her little brown orbs were glaced over with tears and held so much pain, the kind a child should never have to carry with them. Something inside of Ed snapped at that moment, he could feel his heart beginning to swell just looking at the slight infant.

"H-hello." he stammered, careful to make sure his voice was at a low level, so as not to scare the girl. "My name is Ed, and this is Lili," he motioned to his timid fiance, who waved meekly, still warily hiding behind him. "Can you tell me your name?"

The girl sniffed and hugged her knees tighter to her chest.

"What do you want us to call you?" he tried again.

"Maria." The girl's voice was hoarse and difficult to hear, there was also a hint of a middle Eastern accent. Her cheeks were tear-stained and it was obvious she had been crying.

"Maria," Ed echoed. "That's a beautiful name. And where are your parents, Maria?"

She was silent, it was clear to the young couple that she was having trouble understanding them.

"Mummy? Daddy?" Lili tried.

"Gone." Maria sniffed. "We run away. Bad men split us. I follow auntie, but she sick and cold. She die. So i run and i hide here."

Lili turned her head towards her shocked fiance. "She's an immigrant." She whispered.

"Do we tell the council?" Ed asked.

"And have them take her away and send her back into a war-zone? No way!"

"Well then, how do we sort this?"

Lili moved from behind her fiance and kneeled down next to him instead. She held her arms out towards Maria and helped her out of the bathroom cupboard.

"I don't know, but I'm not letting her go back there."

Within hours they and their families had begun to put their an into action.

A year, several hundred phone calls and stacks of paperwork later, Ed and Lili were finally married, their adopted daughter, Maria was bridesmaid, fondly referred to under the nickname of Toothpaste.

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