Everybody looked at her as if she was cray. They could not believe what she was saying.
Her mother lifted a disdainful eyebrow as her father let out a sigh. She was serious! There was something out there and she could not face it alone. They had to act quickly.
Nine-year-old Elysia from Lowell, Indiana, was in the middle of her summer break.
The days were long and warm. Afternoons were spent playing outside, taking care of the family pigs, or looking for adventure in the backfields. Little did she know that something big was waiting for her.
She couldn’t understand why kids wanted to stay inside and just play video games for months.
Every time she would complain about it, her mother would just chuckle and call her an old soul. Today was a stroll around the property, looking for butterflies or other interesting insects.
As she passed through a thick cluster of bushes, she heard a strange noise from the tall grass ahead.
Elysia stood there, still and waiting to hear it again and pinpoint the location. When she heard a tiny squeak, she gasped. It could only be one thing!
She sprinted back to the house. Their sow was due to have piglets any day now.
Maybe she had already had them and one of them got out. But before she could go searching for one tiny animal, she had to make sure the rest were safe and sound. Elysia skidded to a halt in front of the large pen.
Sitting in the middle of a cool mud puddle were the two large animals.
They snored in the afternoon warmth without a care in the world. But there was a big problem – no piglets. She checked inside the hut, nothing was there. The 9-year-old scratched her head, very confused. What was out there?
It was time to find out the truth! Her young mind raced with possibilities.
Maybe it was a cat … maybe they could keep it. That would be amazing! She would have the best summer story when she went back to school. Elysia followed the faint sounds.
In the middle of the field, she finally found the source.
But as she gaped at the patch of soft grass, and what laid there, her mind froze. This was impossible. She reached out to pick up the little pink thing, but then realized she shouldn’t. She could hurt it. Her mom would know what to do.
Her parents were packing up the car to get ready to leave for evening errands.
Elysia sprinted across the gravel, yelling for help. Even after she explained what was out there, it took promises of extra chores to make them believe it wasn’t a joke. She had never seen her parents run so fast.
The family followed Elysia to the spot.
In seconds, her mom pulled off her father’s shirt, gently wrapped the pink thing up, and cradled it in her arms. It let out a long, loud cry. It wasn’t a piglet. It was a baby. A human baby! But why was it there?
The three of them walked back to the house, her father already calling the police and her mom holding back angry tears and muttering about horrible parents.
Elysia witnessed her quiet family farm quickly explode into a beehive of activity. Ambulances showed up, police took statements, and dogs sniffed the fields. There was one piece of very good news.
Despite being less than a day old and left abandoned, the little girl was in very good health!
Elysia was even allowed to talk to the nurse just so she could make sure that everything was okay. But where was the girl’s mom? Why was she there?
It wasn’t like the past “difficult” conversions they had had around the dinner table.
Her mom and dad explained there was no way to know why. Some people were just “bad” or had really bad problems. But there was one thing they were sure about. It also turned out it was the same thing the entire town agreed on.
They all agreed that Elysia wasn’t only the girl who found the baby, she had saved the little one’s life.
She was a guardian angel. The idea made her cheeks turn red. However, they would get even redder in the days to come … when news vans showed up.
They all wanted to hear the story. And they all wanted to praise her.
She had started the summer thinking she would go to school with the same old stories. But this year, she was going back with tales of one miraculous adventure.
