Little Girl Is Left in Taxi, Driver Seeks Parents until He Sees Her Documents — Story of the Day

A little girl was forgotten in a taxi by her parents, but thankfully the taxi driver was a good man who sought them out. But what he discovered about them shocked him and made him decide to keep her away from them.

John was a 65-year-old taxi driver. His wife left him because she could not deal with the grief of their adult son dying in a car accident.

John was on his usual route one day when he picked up a drunk couple in the company of a small girl who looked to be six years old. He was told to take them to an address the man called home, so he did.

He made it his duty to mind his business, but he was unhappy that they were moving with a child as inebriated as they were. When they alighted, he quickly zoomed off in annoyance, but when he stopped at a red light, he heard a whimper coming from the back seat.

A quick look back revealed the child still in his backseat."What are you doing back there?" he asked.

"My parents forgot me," she said.

"That was very irresponsible of them, I'll take you back now."

The girl looked alarmed after he said that. "Please don't!" she squealed. "I love my parents but I can't stand being with them anymore." He asked her why but she only kept mute, so he drove her to a pizzeria and got her pizza. While she ate, she narrated her story to John.

Her name was Lizzy, and her parents were drug and alcohol addicts who didn't care about her. All they did was drink, and the only reason they kept taking care of her was because of money.

John did not understand what she meant, but he was convinced she was truthful, so instead of returning her to her parents, he took her with him to his house.

John spent the night thinking about what he would do about the girl. "Should I return her to her careless parents or should I take her to an orphanage that will take better care of her?" he asked himself.

He knew he could be implicated if he kept her with him longer because his neighbors knew he had no child and had seen him entering his house with Lizzy. At worst, they would report him to the police, and he would have to explain why he took her.

So he decided to call the police himself and asked that her parents be investigated. The detective who headed the investigation called back later the next day to inform John that Lizzy's biological father was no longer in the picture and the man he saw with her was her stepfather.

He was her mother's lover, which explained his negligence towards caring for her. The police tracked them down, and child services revoked their parental rights to Lizzy. As a result, she was sent to an orphanage.

Having formed a connection with the little girl, John visited her at the orphanage and noticed she looked happier. They established a warm relationship since that day, and he kept seeing her. She helped to soothe the ache the loss of his own child made him feel.

One day, he had the opportunity to speak to the director of the orphanage in his office. A worker interrupted the conversation to draw the director away, and John caught sight of Lizzy's documents on his table.

He could not resist the urge to know more about the child, so he took a peek at her details. It revealed she was born in a small town in Indiana — the same place his son had been working before he died.

Something made John track down the girl's mother even though he was still annoyed about the fact that she had forgotten her in his taxi. When he met her, she revealed that the girl's biological father was a man named Steve.

She told him Steve had been her lover while she lived in Indiana. He was a worker, and they were planning to get married when he died.

John was shocked by her revelation. His son was also named Steve, and the circumstances surrounding his death were similar to the man the irresponsible mother described.

He put two and two together and realized that the little girl he had helped was his granddaughter. John called his wife the following day and explained his discovery to her. She returned to him, and together they adopted Lizzy to raise her. Fate had smiled upon John, and he could not have been happier.

What did we learn from this story?

• Learn to listen. If John had not listened when Lizzy begged not to return her to her parents, he would not have discovered what was going on in her life and, as a result, would not have been able to help her.
• Go out of your way to be nice. John was very nice to Lizzy, which is what made her open up to him about her family issues. If it had been the other way around, he would not have been able to get her to talk to him and, in the end would never have experienced closure with his dead son.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a selfish father who chose to abandon his own daughter and adopt his new wife's three children, but he lived to regret his actions.

This account is inspired by our reader's story but written by a professional writer. All names have been changed to protect identities and ensure privacy. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.