Abandoned

A malevolent mom who deserted her two daughters, ages 3 and 2, on a Brooklyn sidewalk Sunday, leaving them each extra diapers and a heartbreaking lesson in hard knocks, has been busted, officials said Monday. – New York Daily News

She sat on a bench inside a bus terminal with her little daughter on her knee. The girl played with the long black curls of her mother’s hair. Her sister ran back and forth between the benches, dodging the near constant flood of people that walked down the hall.

“You come here,” her mother said. “Take a seat now.”

The little girl pouted and made her way over to the bench where her little sister nibbled on her mother’s hair.

“Sit down,” she said. “I need you to watch your sister.”

“You need me because I’m a big girl,” she said.

“That’s right, you’re a big girl.”

She picked the baby off her knee and placed her down on the bench next to her sister. With the two girls, two and three, on the bench, she stood up and straitened her shirt. Her eyes were beginning to water and the little girl said: “Why are you crying.”

“You quiet now,” her mother said. “There’s just something in my eye.”

The mother knelt down in front of her daughters.

“You be good, OK? You look after each other. There’s a lot of good people in this city and I’m not one of them. Someone will find you.”

“Should we hide?”

“No, you stay right here. OK?”

She took a few diapers out of her purse. She handed each girl one and told them that she would be right back. She kissed each girl on the forehead then disappeared into the constant flow of people.

“They’re better off,” she told herself. “They’ll grow up to be strong. They’ll grow up to be beautiful. They’ll grow up without me. They’ll be better off.”

She hurried down the stairs and out onto the street. There was a cold wind blowing down the street and she buried her head into her coat.

“They’ll be better off,” she said and walked as fast as she could away from the station.