Archer Thompson, a cab driver, picked up a 5-year-old girl on a quiet road at night. She didn’t say where she was going or why she was alone, but she gave him a note. After Archer read the note, he turned pale… Archer was born and raised in a small town in southern New Jersey. At age 50, he proudly considered himself a happy man who had achieved everything he wanted in life. He was a beloved husband, an adored father, and an incredibly wonderful grandfather.
He had lived in a happy marriage with his wife, Daisy, for almost 30 years. Sure, their life was full of ups and downs, but they got through all the hard times together, as any strong, loving family would. Daisy worked as a nurse in the main hospital in town, and Archer spent his life working as a truck driver. He used to drive a heavy truck, hauling cargo all over the country. But now, because of his age, he had started to drive a cab. This allowed him to spend more time with his family and grandchildren, who came to visit their grandparents almost every weekend.
Archer’s only son, Spencer, was a great source of pride. He was a university professor at a renowned institution in the country, and all this at the age of only 29! Many of Archer’s colleagues were openly envious of his family’s stability and love and even asked him to share the secret of his success. But he just laughed and laughed, saying that all one really needed to be happy was to love his wife and children. When switching from big freight trucks to a cab company, Archer was treated with the greatest respect, and his bosses greatly appreciated his vast experience on the streets and in transportation. Of course, Daisy often tried to convince her husband that it was time to quit his job and take care of himself, maybe buy a boat, or take up some hobby to occupy his mind. But he sighed sadly in response and said, “My beloved, I can’t.
I simply can’t live without the road. After only a few days off work, I start to miss the noise of the engine and the smell of the tires on the asphalt. I have gotten used to it over so many years, and it is impossible to give it up at this point.” Daisy replied that although she was concerned about her husband overextending himself, she admired his love and enthusiasm for his work. She knew that if he stopped doing what he loved, he would be an unhappy man.
His wife always took care of him by preparing delicious sandwiches for him to eat and wrapping them lovingly in foil, also including vitamins and nutritious drinks. But little did she know when preparing her husband’s food on March 6, 2009, that he would have the most unusual day of his life, forever changing the Thompson family.
When it was evening, and Archer was finishing his shift, he received an urgent call to pick up a customer. After seeing the address, he knew that the place was outside of town, so he decided to take a shortcut. He headed down a dirt road, which was very bumpy and made the car bounce a lot. Even with his powerful headlights, it was very difficult to see far in front of him, and despite all his experience, he decided to continue driving.
That’s when he suddenly saw something in the headlights of his car. He could not tell whether it was a person or just a wild animal—animals were common in that area—so he decided to approach slowly with the car. When he came face to face with what it was, he had to take off his glasses and rub his eyes to make sure that what he was seeing was really true.
It was a little girl of about five or six years old. She was standing at the side of the road as if she was lost or in need of help. Blinded by the bright light of the headlights, she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. With his heart racing nervously, Archer stopped and got out of the car. “How did you end up here, dear? And why are you alone?” he asked, carefully taking the girl by the hand. She looked at him with eyes full of sadness and despair, then sighed and simply shook her head, not saying a single word. “You don’t want to talk to me, or you just can’t talk?” Archer asked. He was worried, thinking that she might have been abandoned or perhaps had run away.
He could only look at her and wonder who could have done such a terrible thing, but before he could do anything, the little girl surprised him. She seemed to have a sudden idea and looked intently at the taxi driver as she nodded. She took a pen and a sheet of folded paper out of her side pocket. Then she looked hopefully into Archer’s eyes and handed him the note. He unfolded the paper, which was very old and crumpled, and quickly read what was written on it.
To his surprise, the note, full of grammatical errors, said that the girl should be taken urgently to the hospital where her grandmother was already admitted. It looked as if the note had been written by an illiterate or a child who had recently learned to read. Archer didn’t think much about it and did what he had to do. He called the cab company and told them that someone else needed to pick up his client. He then decided to take the girl where she needed to go, feeling like this was his duty.
He felt very sorry for her that she had been left alone, especially in such a dangerous place as that road at night. Who knows what would have happened if he had not driven up? As the girl was getting into the back seat of the car, Archer noticed that there was something wrong with her left hand, as if it had recently been injured. He didn’t know where her grandmother was hospitalized, but he knew he needed to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. He started the engine, beginning a journey whose end he wasn’t sure he could predict.
All the way to the hospital, the girl looked out the window and behaved very calmly, only occasionally uttering low expressions of pain when the car went over a pothole. It was obvious that her hand was hurting, and even more so when she tried to move it. The trip continued, and when they reached their destination, a sudden feeling of worry came over Archer. The problem was that he did not know the name of the girl’s grandmother, who he needed to find.
Realizing that it was unlikely that the girl, who seemed to be mute, would be able to help him, he tried to ask at the reception desk if a woman who looked like the girl’s grandmother had recently been admitted. The biggest problem was that it was against hospital policy to give out the names of patients, but he told them everything that had happened, and fortunately, the nurse on duty felt bad for the girl and decided to help. She checked the system and found that only one woman, Charlotte Green, who was admitted with a heart attack, could be the girl’s grandmother.
Upon hearing the familiar last name, the girl showed little expressions of joy and even seemed to have forgotten the pain in her hand. Meanwhile, the nurse seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then pulled Archer aside a little so that they could talk without her hearing. “Look, Mr. Thompson, I don’t even know how to tell you this, but the thing is, Charlotte Green died three hours ago,” she said slowly. Archer tried to remain calm, but wondered what he should do now.
His initial intention was just to take the little girl to the hospital, but with her grandmother gone, where should he leave her? Finally, having recovered from the initial shock, he realized that he should think first about the girl and only then decide what to do with the grandmother. Taking a quick look at the girl’s arm, the nurse told Archer that he needed to take her to the pediatric trauma department to examine what appeared to be a fracture, but she would need to have an x-ray to be sure.
The girl, on the other hand, seemed to get worse by the minute and could barely stand. Archer gently picked her up and carried her to the other side of the hospital, to the pediatrics area. When he got there, the doctors were shocked when they saw the x-ray results. She not only had a broken arm but also several bruised ribs and had been without proper nutrition for hours. All this meant that she needed to be hospitalized as soon as possible to be under the supervision of doctors who would give her qualified assistance and observe any other symptoms.
Archer came home late that night, and his wife met him at the door alarmed and immediately asked, “Honey, what happened? You look so pale and frightened.” He then sighed sadly and, sitting down on a chair, told his wife everything that happened to him that night. After listening to her husband, Daisy could not hold back her tears, feeling sorry for the unfortunate girl who, by some fateful coincidence, lost her grandmother and was hospitalized with numerous fractures on the same day. “We have to do something; she needs our help.
What do you say we visit her in the hospital tomorrow?” Daisy asked, looking hopefully into her husband’s eyes. She had the right instinct because it seemed that she read her husband’s thoughts; he was about to suggest the same thing. So the next morning, Daisy and Archer Thompson went to the hospital. And to the couple’s surprise, the little girl’s doctors greeted them with good news. She was not mute. She probably suffered some kind of psychological trauma, which caused a problem in her speech, but her vocal cords were fine. One of the doctors even got her to talk, and found out that her name was Lily. “Wow, doctor, that’s a real miracle.
When can we see her? We brought her some food and toys, and would like to talk to the little one,” Daisy said cautiously. According to the hospital rules, only family members were allowed to visit her, but since they had not been located by the police and the couple had been so good to little Lily, the pediatrician replied with a smile that they could see her soon. Seeing a familiar face, the little girl was elated. “At last, you’re here, driver! I missed you!” she exclaimed, looking very different from when Archer had found her. She was no longer pale, and her face no longer seemed to carry the sad expression that it had before. The moment he finally heard little Lily’s voice, Archer’s eyes filled with tears.
Her voice was so beautiful that the couple also felt like screaming with joy at the top of their lungs. Lily was very happy about the visit from Archer and Daisy, especially, of course, for the toys and goodies she also received. From that day on, the couple visited Lily every morning and sometimes even several times during the same day. They were very happy to see the joy in her eyes. She literally lit up every time they entered the room. All this time, Archer was trying to find out what had happened to her and her grandmother. He had already spoken to the police and told them all the details of the night when he found Lily on the side of the road.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Lily’s grandmother, Charlotte Green, was the girl’s legal guardian, as her parents had gambling and drinking problems. They were without steady jobs and would disappear, sometimes for days, spending more time with slot machines and bottles of alcohol than with their own daughter. Because of this, all the family’s money was spent on booze and paying off the couple’s numerous debts, which were increasing rapidly every day. Despite her health problems, the grandmother fought for and won legal custody of Lily, and until her last breath, Charlotte gave her granddaughter all her love and attention.
Charlotte was always very sad to have raised such an ungrateful daughter who seemed to care about nothing except alcohol and gambling and who was capable of mistreating and ignoring her own daughter. Since Lily’s parents had no permanent residence, they often stayed at Charlotte’s home, making her life difficult—full of problems and worries.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Brenda Green, was not the least bit concerned about the fate of her five-year-old child who lived with her sick grandmother. Then one day, Charlotte had a heart attack. Complaining of chest pains, she used her last strength to call an ambulance, collapsed on the kitchen floor, and soon after, lost consciousness. Little Lily sat next to her grandmother and cried the whole time.
Although Brenda was in the next room, she didn’t even leave the room when the paramedics arrived to take her mother to the hospital. The truth is that Lily did not want to stay in a home with her alcoholic mother, while her father was away serving the second year of a jail sentence. So she left home late at night when her mother was drunk and had fallen asleep on the living room couch. She walked slowly down the street, not even knowing where to go. There were very few people out at that time of night, so there was no one to help her. At some point, Lily approached an old building, which seemed to be abandoned. Its walls were in ruins, and the broken windows suggested that nobody had lived there for a long time.
Her attention was attracted by the light coming from the basement, and as she approached, she stumbled over some broken steps. Fortunately, although injured, she was not alone long, as the man who lived in the basement found her soon enough. Upon seeing his clothes, Lily realized that he was homeless. But despite his appearance and strong smell, the man was friendly; he offered her a sandwich and gave her some tea. When the homeless man realized that Lily had seriously injured her hand, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and began to cry softly, for he knew the hard life he led on the street, and he didn’t want to see such a young girl suffer the same fate as he did.
When Lily was not looking, the man wrote a note and put it in her pocket—the same note that the taxi driver, Archer, found when he met her. Upon hearing Lily’s story, Archer could not hold back his tears. He could not understand how Lily’s own mother could treat her daughter like this. Then, having told his wife, Daisy, the results of the police investigation, Archer looked deep into her eyes and didn’t even need to say any words.
Daisy knew exactly what he was thinking—they wanted custody of Lily. “Well, we’re not that old, I think we can handle it. We certainly won’t lack love and affection,” she said excitedly, getting quite emotional. Archer hugged her and kissed her tenderly.
The couple did exactly what they intended and got social services approval to adopt Lily. A few months later, she was happily playing with their other grandchildren, who quickly accepted her and were happy to have another child to play with.
