Old Man Walks past Beggar with a Baby Everyday, Notices Child Is Always Asleep and Hardly Moves — Story of the Day

An elderly man grows suspicious when he sees a beggar with a child that never cries or moves, so he decides to follow her.

I suppose it all started because Brian Pemberley was missing his grandchildren. His only son had moved from their native New Orleans all the way to Seattle and Brian missed him, his lovely wife, and his four boisterous, delightful grandchildren.

Brian’s wife of thirty years had passed away four years before, and with his son and his family gone, he was feeling very alone. That was why he had taken to walking down to the picturesque French Quarter for a coffee and a beignet every afternoon. That was where he saw the beggar for the first time.

The woman was sitting on the pavement in front of a popular bar and beside her, wrapped up in a bundle of ragged blankets was a baby about one year old. She was an olive-skinned brunette in her forties, with a hard face, and a wheedling smile that showed carious teeth.

“Please, sir,” she whined. “I need money to buy food for my baby, sir…”

Brian didn’t like giving to beggars, but something about the tiny form of the baby slumbering next to the filthy woman moved him. He reached into his pocket and drew out his wallet. He hesitated, then put a $20 bill in the woman’s tin cup.

“Bless you, sir, bless you!” the woman cried, then she quickly took the $20 and tucked it away in her bra. As he walked down the street, Brian could hear her whining voice. “Please, miss, it’s for my baby! I don’t have money for food…”

The next day, the woman was there again, sitting against the wall, chanting the same pleas for help to feed her child. The same thing happened the following days, only her tatty clothes changed. Sometimes her sweater was cherry-red, another time acid-yellow, or a dirty purple.

What never changed was the baby. It always lay by her side, eyes closed, the breeze stirring its soft blond curls, caressing the rosy cheeks. The baby was so still that Brian started to think it might be one of those awful reborn dolls he’d heard about.

So one day, Brian came up to the woman and gave her another $20 and bent down and caressed the sleeping baby’s cheek. It was a real child, alright! It stirred slightly at his...