Boring Sunday

I even watched Cricket* (the sport not the insect) today it was so boring around here.
By 5:30 I starting making dinner just for something to do. My brother-in-law (we call him "Gijaji") walked into the kitchen and got a drink of water. After getting his drink he proceeded to tell me in mixed Hindi and Rajasthani** that the daughter of one of our believers was in a bad accident near our house and was taken to the hospital. The neighbors who came and told him about the accident were still looking for her parents and hadn't yet found them. (It took me about 5 minutes to get this much information.) After getting a grasp of the situation I called our pastor, wondering if he already knew; I told as much as I knew (which wasn't much at the time) and handed the phone over to Gijaji to fill him in.

I made chai for Gijaji and then had him drive me over to the hospital. I walked up to the counter and said, "There was a little girl in an accident..." That's all it took and I was pointed to the room where she was being held. Her name is Esther and she is ten years old. Her parents are laborers who build houses. Other than some of our soon-to-be neighbors there was no one there with her.

Apparently she was hit by some vehicle, she doesn't know what happened and the the driver didn't stop. This all occurred on a busy road in the late afternoon but as far as we know there were no witnesses. Esther was knocked unconscious, she has an abrasion on her head, and a fracture in her left shoulder and some scratches, but this is the worst part (don't read on if you get queasy easily): Her little body got flung to the side of the road and as she lay there unconscious, a dog came and started to - eat her. I saw the arm with a large chunk of flesh bit out of it - the hole was the size of an egg.

Eventually it was a neighbor who noticed the dog dragging what he thought was a pile of clothing but turned out to be Esther.

He sent someone for her family but they had gone to the market. The neighbors then took her to the hospital and Gijaji came and told me and now the story has come full circle.

Isn't that horrifying! That something like this can happen in broad daylight on a road that I drive on about 8 times a day. Good for my neighbors for taking her to the hospital and staying with her. I knew that was a great place to build a house.

Esther's mom and dad did arrive about 10 minutes after me and soon after, our pastor. I stayed til about 8PM when I started getting phone calls from my own children to come home. By that time the doctor had finally come, stitched up the bite and gave her injections. She'll be admitted for 24 hours for observation.

These kinds of things always seem to happen on Sundays. It just brings to mind my own E.'s accident in 2006, on a Sunday, and her miraculously non-injured body. Esther should be up and running in 10 days or so and thank God for that. When I got word that she was injured it sounded bad. But when I got there she was awake and talking. Eventually, she cried because she was hungry, thirsty, and because she was devastated that her flip flops got lost in the accident. I knew then she was going to be fine.

* India did kick Australia's butt.
** I'm not so good at understanding Rajasthani.