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guess it’s close to supper time. Pulling the diaper bag open I start to search for something to eat when I hear singing. My head whips up and I search for where it’s coming from. The voice sounds like it’s coming from a girl and it’s getting closer. I scramble to my feet and rush down and then back up the ditch until I’m standing on the road.
    I stand with the sun at my back and watch as two figures skirt around the closest wreckage. It’s a tall slim woman with soft red hair that’s piled on top of her head. Holding her hand is a girl a few years younger than me and she has the exact same colour of hair but it’s loose down her back and it floats behind her in the light breeze. The girl sees me first and her song cuts off mid word, alerting her mom who looks up and shades her eyes against the sun.
    I swallow past a lump in my throat and raise my hand in greeting. The voice that comes out of me doesn’t sound like mine. It sounds years younger.
    “H-hello?”
    They walk a few more steps closer before stopping and the woman tilts her head and studies me for a moment before speaking.
    “Hello sweetheart, are you all alone?”
    I start to say yes but then remember.
    “No, my brother is over there in his stroller. He’s just a baby.”
    They both look over at where I had pointed and then she asks, “Your parents?”
    I try to answer but my throat closes up in sorrow so I just shake my head and look down at my feet. I hear them walking closer and then soft arms are around me and a hand is rubbing my back and it all pours out. The physical pain from the accident, the anger at moving away from my life, the guilt at treating her so bad and those empty staring eyes. I cry every tear in my body against that soft chest and she takes it all.
    When I’m finally empty and still, she pushes me back a bit and wipes my face with her hands and says the words I have been waiting to hear.
    “It’s going to be ok.”
    That almost sets me off again but I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from wailing again and step back from her arms to bend down and grab my cap that has been knocked to the ground. I anchor it on my sweaty head and glance around to see if the girl had seen me crying like a baby. I spot her across the ditch leaning over Matty’s stroller. She stands up, turns back our way and waves us over.
    “Come on sweetie; let’s go check on your brother. By the way, my name is Belle and that’s my daughter Sasha. What’s your name?”
    We start to walk down the ditch when I tell her mine and Matty’s name.
    Sasha is super skinny with long arms and legs but she has no problem scooping Matty up from the stroller and holding him out to her Mom.
    “He looks like he’s alright Mom but he really stinks!”
    Matty waves at us with chubby arms and a big grin and announces, “X, X, poopy, poopy!”
    I groan in dismay at the thought of changing his diaper. The kid’s a poop bomb master but Belle laughs at him in delight and swoops him into the air out of her daughter’s arms.
    “Hi, hi Matty! I’m Belle and I’m going to change your diaper for you. Is that ok?”
    The kid’s response was to pat her face with a satisfied grin.
    Belle takes over with no hesitation by kneeling by the diaper bag and pulling out all the supplies she needs. She has the kid poop free and clean in minutes. The ache in my chest lessens a bit at having an adult here to help us.
    Now that he’s clean and free of his stroller, Matty starts to crawl around and pull out grass. I let him explore for a bit while I help Belle and Sasha pull out the little bit of food I have taken out of the van. They have a few things to eat from the back packs they had been carrying, but it’s not much. As we eat our meager supper Belle explains what they had been through.
    “I don’t know what caused it but the car just shut off. Everything went dead at the same time. I think the only reason we made out ok was because I had slowed right down before it