Mrs. Thomas stared at the apparition before her eyes. She mentally called the sight before her an apparition because she was looking at a teenage girl with a sleeping baby on her thin shoulder and a six year old sniffling girl grasping her hand. The teenager looked determined not to cry but Mrs. Thomas could see the strain of the baby's weight in the outstanding cords of her neck.
"Mercy sent you over alone?" Mrs. Thomas asked before Ann could supply her name. She had immediately recognized them from the many loving descriptions that her daughter had given of them in their phone conversations. Her frown became angry. Mercy knew better than to allow these innocent children to traipse across Calabar without an adult in tow. The town was filled with so many unscrupulous people ready to hurt kids.
