A Mother's Love

31 A Mother's Love The little girl went to school each day feeling frightened. She had grown used to it, but it still hurt each time her class- mates teased. When she was younger, she used to hide when the insults began. But as she grew older, she no longer hid in shame. Still, it hurt. The teasing turned her into a girl who kept to herself. She had no friends, although friends were what she longed for most. " Your mother is so ugly, " the kids would shout. “ Your mother's face is like a monster's face, " they said. " Sheena has a monster for a mother! " Sometimes, Sheena wanted to pretend that her mother was not her mother. She wanted to deny her mother, to tell the others that she was in fact not her mother at all. When this happened, she was filled with guilt and shame, for her mother was the kindest and most generous of all the mothers in the world.

Sheena's mother did in fact have a frightful face. It was scarred and deformed, unpleasant and disgusting-long purple scars and a disfigured nose. In a word: horrible. One day, when Sheena came home crying, her grand- mother took her aside. “ Why are you crying?" asked her grandmother. Sheena explained how difficult it was to withstand the teasing from her classmates. She told her how lonely she felt each day at school. Her grandmother said, “ It's time to tell you the story of how your mother came to have such a face. When you were just a baby, you were sleeping in your bed and your mother was across the street talking with a neighbour. Suddenly, she noticed smoke coming from your house. Everyone rushed to the door, but it was too dangerous to go inside. Your mother did not think twice. She ran into the fire, not thinking for an instant of herself, only of you, her dear child. She brought you out safely, but her whole body was burned from top to bottom, especially her face. That's how she came to have the ugly scars. " Sheena was never again embarrassed of her mother. From that day on, she walked with her head high, knowing that she, above all the other children, had a mother who loved her completely.