This person clearly has kneecaps*
“I don’t even have any kneecaps, so I really need you to give me $150.”
“Oh. Um . . .” The woman at Starbucks got uncomfortably close to me. Like an inch away from my face.
“I thought, since I saw you wearing that cross necklace, you would help me.” She was walking surprisingly well for someone without kneecaps.
“Well . . .” What could I do? I wasn’t about to give her money, but not because I am heartlessly cruel. This woman needed something else more than she needed my money for allegedly nonexistent kneecaps.
I looked down at my green cross necklace. It was my favorite, and it had gotten me into this. I was also in a hurry, as I was supposed to be meeting someone.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t have $150. If you want to, we can pray together. Do you know Jes—”
“—Yes, we will pray together.” She interrupts me quickly. “If I’ve ever done anything wrong, I’m sorry for it.” Grabbing me by the hand, the woman led me to the bench beside Starbucks, where I prayed softly over her.
[It was far more awkward than practicing my Spanish by having accurate yet agonizingly slow conversations with native speakers, where it takes me a million years to say one paragraph because I am so fearful of incorrect verb conjugation. Yes, I am even a stickler for Spanish grammar.]
Immediately afterward, the woman invaded another customer’s personal space with talk of her missing kneecaps, her commanding presence startling the unsuspecting man. So it may not have been profoundly life-changing, but perhaps something stuck. Who knows? This woman has been in my prayers.
*Photocred:http://www.indiamart.com/company/1488707/rehabilitation-aids.html
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