A Mother's Touch

Chapter 1

"119 what's your emergency?" She still held the toddler's hand as she gave a brief summary of the situation and provided their current location. "Ok expect two officers on the scene in under 10 minutes." The woman thanked the person on the other end before she hung up.

Before she could even put her phone back in her pocket, the boy tugged lightly on her hand. Immediately,  the woman crouched down to be eye level with him, "What is it, sweetie? Do you see your parents?!" He pointed his tiny finger and she followed the path to a nearby ice cream stand.

She let out a little laugh and said, "Alright, let's get you some ice cream for being so brave today." His mismatched eyes lit up immediately and he excitedly began to pull her arm in that direction. She was admittedly happy the boy finally wasn't silently crying anymore and thought his determination to have a sweet cold treat was adorable. As they waited in line, she examined his face again before pulling out a small wipe from her purse.

The woman knelt down and said, "Turn towards me please." He looked confused but conceded to her request. She held his face up slightly and gently wiped the dirt off of his face and hands, being mindful of the scratches. The small boy just stared at her silently as she continued her task but didn't try to stop her.

"There we are. Can you tell me your name sweetie?" the woman kindly asked. He made no reaction to her question and just continued to stare at her smiling face with a blank expression. "Not ready to tell me? That's ok. My name is Aylee." Before she could say anymore, it was their turn in line.

She picked up the small boy into her arms so he could see the flavors clearly now. "Pick whichever one you want sweetie." Encouraged by her words, the boy's face became very concentrated as he critically looked over all of the displayed ice cream flavours. Aylee struggled to hold in a laugh at his cute little scrunched up face. The ice cream teller looked at the two, amused with the boy's antics. After a moment of deliberation, his little finger pointed at the dark pink ice cream.  Aylee answered his silent debate.

"We'll take one raspberry scoop please."

The boy sat down next to Aylee on a bench and was happily licking his pink ice cream.  Aylee was keeping an eye on their surroundings when two uniformed police officers approached the pair. A small whimper escaped from his mouth at the intimidating sight of them and he scooted his body closer to the woman he was more-familiar with. She heard the distressed sound and wrapped her arm around his trembling shoulders and lightly kissed his head to comfort him. "It's alright sweetie, they're here to help." she quietly whispered to him.

"Hello miss, we were called about a lost child." one of the officers spoke up.

Aylee rubbed the toddler's shoulder to help keep him calm. "Yes, I found this boy in an alleyway hiding behind a cardboard box scared and alone." she bluntly started. The officer that spoke nodded for her to continue. "We looked around for his parents for about 30 minutes before I placed the call. Unfortunately, he has not told me his name, but I didn't want to leave him by himself."

The two officers glanced at the shaking and fearful child glued next to her. "Thank you miss, for your assistance, but we'll take it from here." The second officer, who was silent for the whole interaction, stepped forward to take a hold of the child. The boy immediately burst into tears and crawled onto the woman's lap. His ice cream was dropped and now a forgotten puddle on the sidewalk. Aylee tried everything to soothe him, but he just buried his head into her shoulder and refused to let go of her.

The young woman sheepishly looked at the two officers while petting the boy's red and white hair. "Sweetie I know it's scary but you have to go with them. They're here to help you." her voice barely heard above his gut-wrenching wails. He immediately shook his head at her words and finally said his first words to the strangers.