CHANCE OR ANGELS?

[Xavier Perez-Pons]

It happened when I was nine years old. It turns out that I embarked with my classmates on a scheduled excursion to enjoy a day in Nature. The place where the bus school left us was a large lawn with picnic tables and attractions for children. I remember a spring of limpid water frequented by the people of the environment because of its healthy properties. However, what attracted me the most was the dense forest that flanked the meadow and climbed up the mountain. So, moving away from the ball-shaped missiles that were already beginning to swarm through the air, I slunk down a path that went into the forest. I certainly enjoyed my venturing into that exuberant plant and mineral kingdom that so few times had had occasion to tread until then. But the afternoon began to fall, and so the hour of return approached. So I undertook a rapid descent in the course of which I lost myself. I understood that I was descending the wrong slope, and I was scared. I got so scared that I knelt down and, putting my hands together, I started praying. I had not finished yet when I heard footsteps approaching. I got up ipso facto and then I saw three or four young people appear among the trees, descending peacefully down the slope. Kindly they asked me if I was returning to the bus school, and in response to my affirmative answer, they told me to follow them. On the way, they asked me if I had been kneeling praying when they found me, but I felt ashamed and I denied it. We arrived at the lawn just as my companions were starting to get on the buses. You can not imagine the relief and joy I felt! No one had noticed my absence, and when I wanted to thank my saviors, I could not find them. I remember how, from the window of the bus, I looked unsuccessfully at the contours in their search...