Raymond Klassen – Ideals and Identities

A girl came to our door at a quarter past one… in the morning.

She rang the doorbell, and as I opened the door, she hid her vape.

“My sister abandoned me and took my phone.”

“Where do you live?”

“I live in the Meadows.”

I considered giving her a ride home, and I asked her age.

“Almost 17.”

My mind thought of my youngest, safely asleep in bed.

“I don’t have any money,” she continued.

“Let me walk you to the nearby donut shop, which should be open.”

We walked, and she asked me, “Are you a dad?”

“Yes.”

“That makes sense.”

“What’s your name?”

“Rosie.”

As we walked, I asked her if she knew some nearby landmarks.

She didn’t. She was lost.

“I don’t know where I am.”

“That’s okay, the world is disorienting sometimes.”

The donut shop was closed, so I called the cops.

They were on their way. I gave her a cigarette.

She smiled, “Tobacco clears out the bad spirits.”

I won’t see Rosie again, but it comforts me to know she will be home safe.

I hope, at some point, a kind stranger will be a safe light in the middle of the night for my youngest.

We all have needed it at one point or another.