Maria

About a month ago I crumpled up a receipt and threw it away, and then immediately retrieved it from the trash for some inexplicable reason. I didn't know why at the time; I just felt compelled to do so. It was a receipt from Czars Treasures, a store here in Ketchikan that sells a lot of cool Orthodox stuff. Anyway, after examining the receipt, I saw that the name of the girl who was running the register was Maria. She is a stunningly beautiful Russian girl who also happens to be Orthodox. At the time, I thought this might be a sign from God, that somehow this girl would figure into my life. I get a lot of coincidences like this, and most of the time they relate to my life in a way which is meaningful to me.

Yesterday I was at work, as per my usual routine up here. Somewhat early in the day, a girl came into the store and began talking to me. Man, what a talker. She just talked and talked and talked. She told me that she was 19 and a local, born and raised in Ketchikan. She was a veritable wealth of personal information, and for a couple of hours, she followed me around the store like a puppy dog, just talking and talking and talking. I was somewhat uncomfortable at first, having this girl in the store and following me everywhere and telling me everything about herself. After all, I was at work... but it happened to be pretty slow yesterday, so she really didn't interfere with business.

Eventually she began to reveal more and more personal things about herself... about the guys she'd slept with, the drugs she'd done, the things she'd done for drugs (my heart broke for her upon hearing some of these things, which I won't go into), and finally I interrupted her and introduced myself. It just didn't seem right to be hearing all of this without us even knowing each others names. I told her that my name was Elias, and she said her name was Maria.

I didn't think much of this until she began to describe to me how she had been raped, in horrible, vivid detail. During this description she became obviously distressed, and tears came to her eyes. I just didn't know what to say... it was bizarre, unreal, surreal, hearing all of this from this young, pretty girl who I didn't even know. That's when I realized that her name was Maria... the same name on the receipt that I had thrown away and retrieved on impulse.

I talked to her as best as I could. I tried to console her. I gave her the best advice I could think of. I think it was woefully inadequate. Finally, at about 6:00, she hurriedly left the store, saying that she had to meet a friend, and that was the end of that.

Maria will be in my prayers. I hope that, through God, something about our encounter might make a positive difference in her life.