My husband and I were living in a 40 foot Winnebego because we were on the road a lot, traveling around with his job as an instructor for Martin Marietta, a major government contracting firm. At the time of this incident we were living in Louisanna, camped on the shores of a Lake in an RV park. It was a beautiful spot, the fishing was excellent, and as I love to fish it was wonderful.
We had already raised three children at this time and as this was before we adopted a granddaughter, it was just my husband and myself. There was a little girl named Jessica in the camp, and it seems she was frequently left on her own. She was in the custody of her dad, who worked and was a bit of a flake, and he didn't bother to hire anyone to stay with her when he was at work. As he had custody, I can only imagine what her mother may have been like! Jessica had straight, blonde hair and cute freckles. She was a bit on the skinny side and as sweet as can be. She was six. She would visit me almost every day, and on sunny days I would take her to the lake to swim where the water was shallow.
In order to get to the lake and back to the campground, we had to cross a small gravel road that cut through the campground. On this particular weekend the campground was crowded with people who just came in for the weekend because it was a holiday weekend, I don't remember which holiday, but it's not really important.
We had a nice swim and when we were done, I told her to take my hand just like I always did so she could cross the road safely. The speed limit was five miles per hour, but one can never be too careful with a small child. On this day there were many cars on the road.
For some unknown reason, Jessica broke free from my hand and began to run towards the road. I hollered "Jessica! Stop!" but she paid no heed, so I began to run after her. Suddenly a car was bearing down on the child, and was not obeying the speed limit, but traveling at least 30mph through the campground, which I'd never seen anyone do before. By this time I had reached the side of the gravel road and Jessica was almost half way across, but the car was going to hit her, so somehow I jumped further than I had ever jumped in my life, with my arms outstretched and hit her in the middle of her back with the flat of both of my hands. She flew across the road and fell on the grass. Unfortunately I fell on the gravel road right in front of the car. The driver did hit his breaks and skidded to a stop just inches away from me. Then he backed up, made a "U" turn, and left the park.
There I was, flat on my stomach in the middle of the road, with the wind knocked out of me, and my left knee hurt. Out of all those people, no one had paid any attention or had seen anything, except for one man who was bending over me. He asked me if I was all right. I really didn't know, but I said I thought so, except for the gash in my knee which I later discovered went clear to the bone. I asked him if he had seen the license plate of the car, and he said he had not, because he wasn't there when it happened. That was strange, as it had just happened and he was right there. At any rate, he helped me up, and I hobbled to the side of the road. When I reached the other side of the road and turned around to thank him, he was gone. I asked other people if they had seen this tall, blond man who was wearing brown shorts and a blue tank top and no one remembered seeing anyone like that, which was pretty weird because he was beautiful. Tall, well built, with skin that actually glowed. If that was a tan, it was the best one I ever saw.
My knee was bleeding badly, so I limped to my RV with Jessica, who was fine because she fell on the grass, and cleaned up my knee and temporarily bandaged it to control the bleeding. I ended up getting stitches, and still have a slight scar which always reminds me of Jessica and my Angel, for what else could he have been?
Gayle S
Texas
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