Neglected Child

I want to write about the incident Turkish and I came across the other day at Costa Coffee. We were sipping our coffee when a rather attractive lady, in her mid-40s sat at the table next to us.

I couldn't help but notice the certain aura she carried and my eyes glanced over from time to time. On her tray, there was a plate of Caesar's salad, a fruit tart and a cup of hot drink. She didn't mind the surrounding much, and didn't pay any attention to the both of us.

About 1/2 hour later, she was interrupted by a man older than herself and a petite girl in pink. I say "interrupted" because not only this woman did not stand up, she did not show any emotion to greet her guests. It looked as though she dreaded their presence. She didn't even budge when the man presented her flowers, and a heart-shaped card by the child.

I didn't understand the coldness. I felt more chill coming from her unappreciative manner than the below zero temperature on the streets. Why?

As we watched on, I wondered about their relationship to each other.

The bright, roving little one shares some of her facial features yet I couldn't be sure. Turkish agreed about the nose and I thought the eyes were remarkably similar. The child called the man Papa, who stopped paying attention to her the minute he placed a plate of Chocolate pastry on the table and returned to his seat in front of the lady.

Two adults seemed to engage in a serious conversation, and I assumed it must have been life-threatening kind of serious because he was constantly jotting down on his small notepad. We came up with two conclusions that possibly connect these 3 characters:

1. Divorced parents, father has the custody of the child

2. Man trying to get it on with the woman, brought his child along

If there was a kinship between the woman and the child.. I must say she is one lousy mother. Even if she doesn't she would be a lousy mother. She did not show an ounce of interest in her, nor looked more than she needed to.

When the both of them were so busy in their own world, the little girl turned to us. Hehehee I insinuated. She was very friendly, cheeky too. For about 10 minutes, we exchanged gestures like waving, snarling, growling and making silly faces in silence.. you wouldn't believe they didn't take notice at all.

Not even when she came over to disturb us. She leaned on Turkish and I, falling on us. Yeahhh, that close. The man and woman failed to see the contact, let alone minded. I was very shocked because anything could have happened to this child. We could have been perverts, showed her nasty things and you know what I mean by nasty.

I was angry at the adults for negligence.

I was sorry for the lack of parental attention.

I was a busybody for what is supposedly none of my business.

The only time her Papa minded was when she was running across the cafe. He shouted "Ei!", stretched out an index finger, turned his wrist downwards to the wooden chair and she obediently followed. She sat down and resumed to chewing on her pastry.

Hats off for his powerful command. Only one index finger.

We left shortly with hopes that this girl is properly cared for and loved.

What we witnessed on the surface in the short period of time made me feel uneasy. I'm really not sure why I was bothered by it. Whether the adults are 1 or 2 like we assumed, I strongly believe a child brought into this world deserves better..

The little girl