Woman Abruptly Stops on the Road upon Seeing Barefoot Boy, ‘Are You My Mommy?’ He Asks – Story of the Day

An encounter with a child by the side of a lonely road changes a woman's life completely and finally brings her the happiness she'd been dreaming of.

If there was one thing that Ellen Rafferty hated more than driving, it was driving in the rain. She hunched over the steering wheel and peered anxiously through the swishing windscreen wipers.

The awful, awful rain... Gerald had died on a night like this, driving home from work, and since then Ellen had become a recluse and only left the house when she was absolutely forced to.

This evening she was on her way back from a doctor's appointment. Everything else she could do online: paying bills, shopping... But doctors didn't make house calls.

That was when Ellen saw a little forlorn figure standing by the side of the road in the pouring rain. It was a child!

Ellen hit the brakes sharply, and the car skidded sideways. She managed to get the vehicle under control and pulled over by the side of the road next to the child.

It was a little boy, maybe four or five, and he was wearing a thin T-shirt, shorts, and no shoes. His little feet were buried in the mud and he was shivering and hugging himself.

As soon as he saw Ellen, his face brightened. "Hello!" he said. "Are you my mommy?"

"No," Ellen gasped as the icy rain soaked her to the skin in seconds. "I'm not! What are you doing here? Where are your parents?"

"Oh," the boy said, disappointed. "I was sure it was you. I don't know where my mom is. She left me on the road when it was raining, and I think she must be looking for me."

"Oh my God!" Ellen gasped. "When did this happen? Have you been here long? Come on, get into the car!"

"It happened long ago, 'cause I wasn't a good boy," the boy said sadly.

Fate places us where we need to be to fulfill our mission in life.

"But where do you live?" Ellen asked as she fished an old blanket from the backseat to try and dry the boy.

"I live down there..." the boy pointed down the road, then he enunciated carefully: "At the Doris Farmer Institute for Children."

"The orphanage?" asked Ellen. "But that is far!" Just then, there was a terrible bolt of lightning and even more rain poured down as thunder rolled across the sky.

"Come on," Ellen said. "I'm taking you home. I'll call the orphanage to come fetch you."

Ellen took the boy home. She didn't quite know what to do with him, so she turned on a heater and sat him in front of it still wrapped in the blanket.

Then she googled the orphanage and called them: "Hello? This is Ellen Rafferty. I just found one of your children on the old Garson farm road...Wait...Let me ask..."

She turned to the boy and asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm David," he said.

Ellen returned to her call. "He says his name is David," she said. "He looks about five, maybe? I don't know much about children at all...Can you come to fetch him? ... What do you mean 'no'! I can't drive all that way, it's raining...I'm sorry your van is stuck in the mud... No, I can't keep him tonight. I don't know anything about children, I don't even LIKE children..."

Sighing, Ellen hung up the phone and looked at the boy. Now what? Then her cat Gandalf strolled in and rubbed himself against Ellen's legs, purring.

Ellen scooped up the cat and kissed his head. "Come on, my baby," she crooned. "Mommy's gonna feed you..." When she looked up, she was startled by the longing in David's eyes.

"I wish I was your cat," he said wistfully.

"Oh..." Ellen said awkwardly. "Why? Are you hungry too?"

"No," David said softly. "I just want the love you give him..." Ellen dropped Gandalf who gave an indignant howl and put her arms around the boy.

"Oh, sweetie!" Ellen whispered and tears ran down her face, as she rocked David in her arms. For the first time, maternal tenderness stirred in her heart.

When the woman from the orphanage arrived at Ellen's house that evening, she found David and Ellen playing Snap and eating macaroni and cheese on the kitchen table. Gandalf was lying across the boy's legs like a living blanket.

Ellen had thought David leaving would be a relief, but once he was gone, the house felt strange, empty. The next day, she got into her car again and drove to the orphanage to ask about David.

"Is he alright? I was worried he might catch a cold..."

The staff assured her that David was in perfect health. They told Ellen that if she wanted to see him she'd have to come back in the afternoon because he was at school.

"Oh, no!" Ellen said hastily. "I never go out more than once in two or three weeks! Today is already quite extraordinary..." But somehow, that afternoon, Ellen found herself driving back to the orphanage.

Ellen started visiting David nearly every day, and little by little, she was coming out of her shell. Three months later, she spoke to the director and asked about the possibility of adopting David.

"It's not an easy process," the director warned. "But if you love this child, it is worth it! First, I would suggest you apply to become a foster parent, then move on to formal adoption..."

The director was right. It wasn't easy at all, but a year later, Ellen took David home. "I guess I AM your mommy, David," she said to her son. "I think that is why God had us meet by the side of that road. So I could rescue you, and you could save me..."

What can we learn from this story?

• There are no random encounters. Fate places us where we need to be to fulfill our mission in life, and Ellen's was to love and protect David.
• Family is about love, not genetics. David became Ellen's child and she loved and cherished him all her life.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a boy who finds out on his 18th birthday that he is adopted and lashes out against his parents, but then he learns the truth about his biological mother.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. 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