Someone changed the system. You didn’t call some other parents when your daughter was six and make a contract to marry her off to a boy who was ten....Less than a hundred years ago women couldn’t vote, in some places they couldn’t even own property. Someone changed the system. Someone said there’s a better way. I’m glad we don’t still do things the way they were done in the past. I’m not willing to go along with something just because people have done it for many years.’ ‘The church teaches that. And just when your faith in the holiday seemed to get restored, several other kids from school who frequently bullied you took it upon themselves to “relieve” you of it, with a couple of punches to the head and stomach.When you grew old enough to appreciate parties, you attended a Christmas themed school dance. At this point, you were also able to appreciate the girls in your school a lot more, and somehow you ended up with the most popular girl in the school at the time.What you didn’t realize. Once again, he shook himself. He had never before felt drawn towards a kid. He balled his fists. Good God! Was he one of those terrible people who stalked children? Again and again, he told himself that he wasn't. He had met many children in the last years, the kids of coworkers and of friends. Anna's two kids. No, he never felt the urge to hug them. He shuddered, swearing to himself that he would seek help if this ever happened to him again.It took father and son until mid-afternoon to return. She was in front of him, looking at him through the reflection in the window. It took him by surprise as he didn’t know that he was being watched the whole time.The little girl put her two fingers next to her chin as she was smiling at him. Gary responded to the girl by waving to her through the reflection. She was waiting for him to look at her, and he finally did. She turned her head around and looked at him. Her same cute and adorable smile she had was hypnotic to him.The girl seemed to know.