Proof The Bible Is True

A two-year-old’s guardian angel watches over her when she gets lost in the woods of rural Pennsylvania.

“This is a new recipe,” my grandmother said, setting a pan of pastry down on the table in front of me and my great-aunt Gertie. “Tell me what you think.”

At 80, my grandmother, Loretta “Rita” Shultz, was as fearless as ever, always trying new things. I wished I had her confidence. “Tell me again about that time you got lost in the woods, Gram,” I said while she dished out our dessert.

Gram and Aunt Gertie shared a conspiratorial smile. I’d heard the story a million times, but how they loved to tell it. “Well,” said Gram, settling into her chair. “It was 1923….”

“Late summer,” said Gertie.

Gram nodded. “The corn was almost ready for harvest. Gertie and our sister Elizabeth went to get the cows back into the barn for the night. Even though I was two years old and not allowed to go, I followed right behind my older sisters anyway.”

“We didn’t know she was tagging along,” said Gertie, who was only five herself at the time. But five was old enough in those days. In the farmlands of Pennsylvania, everyone did her share of work either in the fields or with the chickens, horses and pigs.

“When the cows were back in the barn, Elizabeth and I washed up for supper. We all sat down at the table–even baby Tony was in his high chair, but little Rita wasn’t there.”

Gertie looked out into the distance, remembering, I suspect, the kitchen back on the family farm, and her mother’s worried face as she asked, “Has anyone seen Rita?”

“We shook our heads,” said Gertie. “Then everybody jumped up from the table and started hunting everywhere for Rita. Mom called the neighbors and Dad searched the barns. When no one could find her we realized that Rita had to be out alone in the woods.”

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